In Your Arms
by Visi0n0fDeath
Summary: Ron loves Hermione, and Hermione adores Ron. But despite Hermione's 112 in a Charm's test, both of the two are too dim to figure that the other fancies them. Will Hermione be forever resigned to merely dreams? Will Ron never snog anything but his pillow?
1. Thinking Of You

(A/N: Hi everyone! My name is Starr and a few days ago, I fell in love with fan fiction! I've loved the Harry Potter books for so long, but I never read fan fiction a lot, until I got bored one evening, a voila! I read the best fic I had ever read (which wasn't really a lot, but I'm telling you, it was excellent!) a bit ago, and I couldn't stop until I had finished the entire 25 chapters and read the 23 chapters of the sequel! So, if you need a good fan fic, _please _check out Telling Ron, and the sequel, There For You! They really are superb.

You're all probably wanting to get on with this now, and I can't wait! This took me a while to write and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did creating it! I can tell you it will have many more chapters (I'm almost done with Chapter Two!) and I will update frequently if anyone actually reads this! I hope that you all will review it and tell me what you think of this because as a first time writer, I can't wait to hear what people think of me! Just hit that little button at the bottom and I'll reply to you all individually at the end of next chapter after I've gotten a few reviews. Well, that's all for now. Happy reading!))

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Chapter One  
  
Thinking Of You  
  
It was very late and the night was darker than ebony. Rain pounded on the windows of the Gryffindor common room; they were in the middle of a sudden storm. The common room was almost empty, save for a solitary figure crumpled in a despairing heap on the floor. It was shaking profusely which was highly unusual as this person was directly in front of the fire; dying as it was, it still provided much warmth.   
  
The figure was so absorbed into its weeping that it didn't even notice as a portrait swung open. Another joined the being in the common room. The faint sound of shuddering gasps reached his ears and he turned his head, searching for the person who had made the noise. His eyes rested when he looked towards the fire. He stepped forward curiously and as he did so, coming out of the dark, the bit of light that was produced from the expiring fire brought forth his features.   
  
He was rather tall, much taller than most in his year, and although he still had the appearance of being rather gangly, there was a slight hint of maturity in him. It was quite apparent that this boy was becoming a man. After a year of Quidditch he seemed to be getting quite strong, which didn't make his large hands seem so abnormally sized, yet just added a touch more of masculinity to him; they looked very strong, yet caring. This boy -- soon to be man, remember -- had flaming red hair, which worked nicely with his comforting eyes. He had so many freckles that it had once been alleged he had spattergroit, a greivous affliction of the skin, which had been highly affronting to him, but now they were softened by his skin, which had become tan over the past few years. Beneath his eyes was a large nose and soft lips, which were almost always either parted (he was often blabbering about senseless things, or either yelling at his friend or cracking jokes), or touching together, arranged in a crooked grin.  
  
However, as Ronald Weasley stepped forward, closer to the fire to examine who was crying, his eyes narrowed in worry and confusion and his lips parted not in happiness but to release a gasp. He gaped at the person who was on the floor and he knelt down. He reached out with his hands but paused. He didn't know what to do. He shook his head as he looked at the sight before him. He knew that hair. That beautiful, gorgeous brown hair.  
  
"Hermione, what's wrong?" He asked, his voice breaking slightly. The girl looked up and Ron was startled. He could tell she had been crying for a very long time. She sat up, trying to stop her crying and wiping her eyes.   
  
"Oh Ron!" she sighed. "It just came!"  
  
"What did?" Ron asked, confused.   
  
"This letter!" Hermione sniffed.  
  
"From who?" Ron questioned.  
  
"Viktor." Hermione answered, another tear falling from her eye and starting to roll down her cheek.  
  
Ron tensed at the sound of Krum's name. He had tensed up at the mention of him since fourth year. He had originally liked him, but after he had shown an interest in Hermione, he had thrown away all previous acceptance of this character. He would have liked nothing better than to shred the undeserving prat and take Hermione as his own. In fact, he never admitted it, but the only reason he had joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team was that he was hoping Hermione would take to him, if in fact she did go for the Quidditch player types. As Ron began to get over his sudden explosion of anger at Krum's memory, Hermione motioned to a crumpled piece of parchment next to her.  
  
Hermione explained shakily, "I was alone in here when it first came. I was getting ahead on some classwork and doing some light reading." Her hand gestured towards a pile of some six or seven books that were stacked on a table nearby. "Then an owl came for me and I read it and... Oh!" she collapsed again, so intensely that she had to gasp for air. Ron wanted to comfort her immediately but thought he could do so better if he read the letter. He picked up the parchment and brought it to his face. It was indeed crumpled, and he could tell she had been crying on top of it, for many droplets of tears had been absorbed into the paper, smearing the ink in several places. He struggled to make out the short letter. It got immediately to the point. As soon as he started to read it, his confused expression turned to a scowl, which deepened as he got further and further down the letter.  
  
It turned out that Krum had broken up with her. That bastard had broken up with her, Hermione Granger! The most beautiful, gorgeous creature on the planet. He had taken her heart, held it in his hands, given her hopes and dreams and ambitions and then what does he do? He smashed it into a thousand pieces! He'd kill him. He'd make Krum wish he were never born. He'd put him in so much pain-  
  
He was jerked out of his anger and back to the present situation by a particuarly loud sob by Hermione. He cast the letter aside. He was still furious beyond belief but that would have to wait until later. Right now all he needed to do was to comfort Hermione in any way possible.  
  
His hands shook nervously as he reached out to her and he willed them to stop. He touched her shoulder and he looked up. As she gazed into his eyes, his heart melted. She was everything beautiful in the world. She was petite and perfect and the sight of her made him want to do nothing but hold her in his arms for all eternity. Her hair was the perfect length and framed her head gorgeously. The fire light caught it just right and seemed to make it glow. As her head moved, the few blonde strands in her hair turned to an illuminating gold color. Her hair was wavy, which suited her well. Her skin, as opposed to his, was not freckled, but fair. It looked ever so soft, and he longed to it, to feel her cheek against his hand. He could get lost in her eyes. They were of a lovely, honeyed color, and usually were illuminated happiness and sparkling with knowledge. However, now they were devoid of any and all promising thoughts, downcast with desolate ideas and absolutely no hope for the future. In that moment, he died. His heart literally hurt and he wanted to cry out in pain. He never wanted to see her hurt; he'd give up his entire life in order to make her happy. Actually, this wansn't an unusual promise that he would make with ease. For quite a time now he knew that he'd give up his life if only she could smile once more. Her small nose fit in wondrously with her petite appearance, and her mouth... Oh God, her perfect rosebud lips, so soft and beautiful, he'd do anything just to touch his lips to them once --  
  
He shook his head, reminding himself that this was not the time to get lost in thoughts about Hermione. After all, he did that every night, and most of the day. At night, during breaks, during Binn's classes ... _Stop it, Ron!_ he commanded himself. He looked to her as he searched for something to say.  
  
"Hermione, please don't be sad, oh God, don't be sad." He breathed.  
  
"Why?" she cried, sorrowfully. "Didn't you read that letter, Ron? It's over, it's all over! What shall I do now? I can't... I don't..." she stumbled over her words.  
  
"Hermione..." His voice cracked again.  
  
"Anyway, I don't know why I thought it would work out! He's famous and too good for me! I'm stupid, stupid, stupid, and horribly ugly--"  
  
"No!" he cried out. A tear formed in the corner of his eye and trickled down his cheek. "Hermione, you don't believe that!"  
  
"How could I not?" She sobbed. "How could I not believe the truth when I have to look at it every day in a mirror?"  
  
She gave another great shuddering gasp as she wiped away her tears and rubbed her eyes, although this hardly made any difference as tears kept coming. Her eyes had grown slightly red and very puffy, but quite from making her less attractive, he only wanted her to be in his arms more, to comfort her. Ron reached out, and as yet another tear drop fell, he caught it with his finger.  
  
"What are you doing?" She asked.  
  
"Envying this." Ron answered, looking at the droplet on his finger.  
  
"Why?" Hermione inquired.  
  
"Hermione," Ron said, turning to her, "if I could be anything in this entire world, I would be a tear born in your eyes, living on your cheek... And dying on your lips."  
  
Hermione's eyes widened when Ron said this. It was the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to her, and she was absolutely stunned at how romantic he was capable of being.  
  
"Oh, Ron..." she breathed.  
  
"I know tha--" Ron started, but Hermione softly shushed him as she put a hand against his cheek. Ron got a funny, fluttery feeling in his stomach as she did so, the same funny, fluttering feeling he got every time he thought of her. She brought her face closer to his and as she did so, he swallowed. Then she closed her eyes as she brought her face closer... and closer...  
  
She touched her lips to his and he erupted in happiness. He didn't care if his life ended right then and there, he was happier than he'd ever been, he had gotten everything he had ever wanted. Hermione had actually kissed him on the lips! Wait, not _had kissed, was kissing!_ Her lips were softer than he could have ever imagined, this was wonderful, it was--  
  
His thoughts were cut off as she caressed his lips with hers and he gave in to his longings and deepened the kiss, to which she did not object. The kiss was really passionate from the start. Her hand dropped and she gripped his arms slightly above the elbows, and he cupped her perfect face in his hands. After a few intense moments, they sunk in to the kiss, her face upturned to his and his hands now running through her gorgeous hair. If you were to stand back and watch the two people silhouetted against the fireplace, you would have finally seen the most gorgeous, touching sight in all the universe: two people sharing their first kiss. Two people who were hopelessly, passionately, can't-live-without-you in love.  
  
The kiss ended, unfortunately, but they stayed sitting together. Ron said, "Hermione, Krum doesn't deserve you. You're heaven. You're it. You're better off without him, because he could never give you everything you deserve. And I'm not saying that I can, because you don't deserve the world, Hermione, you deserve more, so much more. But I'm willing to offer you as much as I can. My entire heart, all my life. All I want to do is make you happy. Not only am I willing. No, I'm begging." He was cut off however, when Hermione kissed him again and then sunk into his arms. He gripped Hermione tight and held her close. He'd never let her go. After a few moments, she looked up to him, smiling blissfully.  
  
"Hermione?" He said.  
  
"Hmm?" she replied.  
  
"I... I don't want to scare you, but... But I have to say this. I love you." Ron choked out.  
  
He was frightened she'd back away, but she just collapsed in his arms again.  
  
"Ron, you don't know how long I've wanted to hear that. And I've wanted to say it, too. Ronald Weasley I love you with every bit of me, I've loved you for ages and I will always." Hermione revealed.  
  
The two people never knew they could be so happy. And they intended to be happy now, forever. They shared another deep kiss as Hermione crawled into Ron's lap, and they held on tightly to each other.  
  
But no, not now! Ron heard someone calling, from far away. Then closer. And closer. What was it they were saying?  
  
"Ron... Ron... RON!"  
  
Ron sat up as he felt something collide with his head painfully. He looked around. Oh no! He wasn't in the Gryffindor common room with Hermione. He was in his bedroom with Ginny sitting there laughing at them as she picked up the hairbrush she had thrown at him, and continued brushing her hair. He was filled with sadness as he realized it was a dream. It had all been a dream.  
  
"Stop snogging your pillow and get up!" Ginny said, collapsing in giggles.  
  
"Huh?" Ron asked, the light in his room making him squint his eyes as he looked around in confusion and anger. WHY couldn't it not be a dream for once?  
  
"You were drooling a bit and it looked like you were trying to snog your pillow so hard, it'd disappear inside your mouth!" Ginny said, reviving from her fit of laughter and scrunching up her nose. "It was gross. Anyway, mum says to get dressed now, and to come down and have a bit of breakfast, the train leaves to Hogwarts in about two hours. You can snog your precious Hermione then." She started walking towards the door. "Unless you prefer the pillow instead, of course." Ginny said, chuckling.  
  
Ron's mouth fell open. Hermione... How did she... How did Ginny know? He gaped at her back for a few seconds before she turned around at the door.  
  
"I don't--I mean, I hate-- I mean, I like, but I don't--" He tried to get out.  
  
"Mmhmm." Ginny flashed him a knowing smile before opening the door.  
  
"GINNY! I DO NOT LIKE HERMIONE!" He yelled after Ginny, throwing his pillow, hoping to hit her, but the pillow merely hit the door as it closed with a soft _click._

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((A/N: I hope you all really enjoyed that! And remember, review, review, review!

Also, I'd like to dedicate that chapter to a few people. Right now, since it's the first chapter, I've so many people to thank! Um, I'd like to thank Michelle, author of Telling Ron and its sequel, for not updating fast enough because I got bored and that's why I wrote this! I'd also like to thank Tegan, for not running away screaming for whatever reason (actually, for putting up with me for these past 2 years! I know it's been hard!), and Hippo (same reason above) and Amanda! Hippo and Amanda helped me brainstorm. I'd also like ot thank Kim for answering a few questions, and Piglet and Katie for reviewing this before I posted it! And all for putting up with my "Loves" (Ron in Michelle's fic says it a lot and now Hippo, Tegan, and I are hooked on saying that!) and such. Well, enough babbling! REVIEW! And I'll reply to your reviews next chapter, as promised!

Until next time!

Toodles,

-Starr))


	2. Touchy Little Thing, Isn't He?

((A/N: Whoops! I posted this a minute ago but forgot my notes so I'm about to post it again! First of all, please bear with me, the people's thoughts should be in italics and I don't have the time to go through now and see where words should be placed in italics. I will have time later, however. I'm sorry, I forgot to remember where to italicize after uploading it, as the file type you have to upload can't have any formatting on it. And I don't think that made any sense, but erm, I'm going to reply to all my reviews now!

caopotter: Thanks! I am going to continue writing. As a matter of fact, I've finished five chapters so far and am starting on the sixth tonight. They frustrate me, too! I mean, it's as if it's completely obvious to everyone else and Hermione, Miss Know-It-All herself can't comprehend it! I'm really glad that you thought it connected with the series. Well, I hope you enjoy the second chapter! Fifth is my favorite so far, but I suppose I'm fond of some of the moments in here as well.

Aikenlicious: I'm really flattered that you loved it! Thanks so much. Also, you're not the first person to get that image into your head: It happened to me and a friend, as well.

Demongirl6381: Thanks twice over, lol. I'm glad I could provide a laugh. I hope that this one will be as amusing as well. I think you'll like chapter five very much (more you-know-what snogging! =D) Enjoy!

Magnolia Lane: Woo hoo! Miss Beta! Miss Alpha! Sorry I feel like chanting at the moment, I'm so happy I got reviews! And yours was especially charming. I tried to make it as enjoyable as possible (although I know that a lot of you did not enjoy me giving you exactly what you wanted: Hermione and Ron together, only to snatch it away! I read your review on that site, and I replied. Also, I know that he's far more romantic in his dreams, but I figure -- It's a dream, you can be however you want, and he'd like to figure he's not such a mess up at this girl stuff in his dreams. I really hope you enjoy these next chapters (even though you've already read several, lol)...

Now, I'd just like to take one more moment of your time to tell you that this fan fic will be appearing on two other sites. One is a forum where I am in charge of the roleplaying forum, and I urge you all to join it. It can be reached do hope that's right!

Also, it will be appearing on my new fantastic site! It's co-owned by me and my friend Piglet! She will be doing all the artwork and she really is brilliant. Also, when I come up with a new chapter, that will be the first place I post it, so you may want to linger around there once in a while -wink- You can view the website (Nothing on it yet, just the main layout, but hey, we just started it today!) at:

Http:snogging-pillows.biz.ly

I'll let you get on with Chapter 2 now! Thanks for reading and reviewing after this chapter! -major hint-))

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Chapter Two  
  
Touchy Little Thing, Isn't He?  
  
Hermione Granger awoke very early, as she always did, whether it was during summer or the school year. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and yawned, rising from her bed and switching off her alarm clock. She stretched as she walked across her room and opened her curtains to let the sun in as it finished rising. She inhaled the smell of her room for one of the last times before she went to Hogwarts for her sixth year. She missed her room terribly actually. Most summers she spent a great deal of time at Ron's house (she blushed slightly at the thought of him), but this year parents wanted to take a trip to Italy and after lying to them about staying at Hogwarts to study last Christmas, she felt guilty enough to comply. She did have fun, and after her trip she was able to sleep in her bed more often than she had in the past several years (she didn't want to suddenly barge in on the Weasleys and it was almost the end of summer when she returned anyway), so she was happy about that. But she had to admit to herself that not seeing Ron for so long made her pine for him far much more than she had ever pined for her room.  
  
She pulled herself out of her thoughts as she walked about, looking for something to wear today. She didn't want to wear the same old things to the station that she did most years. To be quite honest, when she was in Italy, she changed. All the girls there were so skinny and gorgeous! And here she was, boring Hermione Granger. So, she had started looking after herself pretty carefully. She cared about herself before, but now she really looked after her looks instead of concentrating solely on her studies (not that she didn't fully expect to get top grades this year. N.E.W.T.s were on their way!), but she didn't see the harm in choosing her clothing and such a tad more carefully. Her hair was as wavy as ever, but it was no longer frizzy and, although quite far from thin, it wasn't as bushy. She looked at herself in the mirror, scrutinizing herself for a moment before heading to the bathroom to draw a bath.  
  
Awhile later, she emerged from the bathroom, washed up and teeth brushed. She looked through her closet, wondering what to wear. She eventually chose a lilac peasant shirt that she liked very much and a knee length, layered black skirt that spun out beautifully when she turned. As she brushed her hair in front of her mirror she decided that putting her hair up would seem far too odd. After all, she really only wore it up to the Yule Ball and although she wanted to look nice, she didn't want to make it obvious that she was trying to catch everyone's (well, not really everyone's, more like someone's) attention. For her hair she decided to wear a headband. She decided upon violet to accent, but not completely match, the purple. She looked through her very small amount of makeup that she had acquired over the summer and chose a purple-mauve colored flavored lip gloss. She didn't need any blush (for she blushed quite profusely when thinking of Ron and probably much more while she was with him as it were), but she added a hint of eyeshadow. She thought it really made her eyes stand out. She rummaged through her things and pulled out a pair of black sandals. They had a bit of a heel to them, but nothing formal or too extravagant. She looked into her mirror as she gave a little turn, liking the way the dress flared. "Perfect." she said, satisfied. She stepped looked to her dresser, to the right of her mirror, where she saw a picture of Harry, Ron, and herself. They all had their arms around each other. Hermione remembered the day when that picture was taken, a few years back not long after she realized she liked Ron, and the feeling she got as he put his arm around her and gripped her shoulder. She took it out of its frame and touched the picture where Ron's face was. The picture was moving slightly, but not that much. The trio just smiled at the camera, and then looked at each other in turn, grinning. Hermione noticed that after she had looked at Ron, and when Ron turned away to talk to Harry, she blushed a bit. "Perfect." Hermione said again, looking at Ron and sighing longingly.  
  
Hermione heard sounds from her parent's bedroom and tore her eyes away from the picture. She glanced at her clock; it was getting about the time to go to Hogwarts. She rushed out of her room and into her kitchen where she got out a glass and a bowl from the cupboard. She went to her refrigerator and brought out a carton of milk as well as a carton of orange juice. She looked through what they had to eat, but all they had was a plain wheat cereal (her parents were dentists, after all, and rarely purchased any other kind), which she disliked and only ate when there was nothing else for breakfast. She placed the bowl back in the cupboard and the milk back in the refrigerator and decided on having a bagel this morning.  
  
A few minutes later, when the she had retrieved her blueberry bagel from the toaster, she sat down at the table. She sat for a few moments in silence while she chewed her bagel, and then took a sip of her orange juice. As she dabbed at her mouth with her napkin, her eyes glazed over slightly and she appeared to be staring off into space, where really she was just getting wrapped into her thoughts about him again...  
  
It was Christmastime and Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione donned their cloaks as they gathered around the fireplace at The Burrow. They were about to take the floo network to Diagon Alley to do their shopping.  
  
"Alright, children, gather up, and everyone take a bit of floo powder." Mrs. Weasley called out, offering a bowl of powder to everyone.  
  
Ron went first. He tossed the powder into the fireplace and it roared as it turned emerald green. "Diagon Alley!" Ron called, and was gone.  
  
"Hermione, you're next." Mrs. Weasley nudged Hermione?  
  
Hermione took some powder and did the same as Ron. She was spinning, spinning, spinning, past places on her way to Diagon Alley... She noted that the spinning feeling and the warmth was sort of like how she felt when she looked at Ron, except that she didn't love the floo network for one, and for another, looking at the flames didn't hurt her, but it did with Ron, because he didn't know she liked him. She bet that he only viewed her as a friend.  
  
While she had been thinking about this, she had arrived at Diagon Alley. She gasped as she tumbled out of the fireplace, and almost hit the floor when who else caught her, but Ron.  
  
"Woah, there." he said gently.  
  
She smiled up at him but said nothing; she seemed to be frozen. But her mind certainly wasn't. You idiot! she scolded herself. Say. Something. Now! Hermione thought. But she couldn't. She could only look up into those eyes, looking at that crooked smile she saw in her dreams every night.... And then she noticed. Ron was staring back! He was staring back, and... And smiling at her! They stayed there for a moment, Hermione with a huge grin on her face, having a mental freak out inside her head. However, suddenly Ron seemed to notice what was going on and, to Hermione's great displeasure, started helping her up.  
  
"Thanks." Hermione said nervously.  
  
"Er... No problem, 'Mione." Was his reply.  
  
At that moment, Ginny came out of the fireplace, soon followed a moment later by Harry. As Hermione looked at Ginny and realized she had a bit of soot on her, a horrified expression came on to Hermione's face as she realized she must look terrible! She smoothed out her hair nervously and wiped her face.  
  
"Just there." Ron said.  
  
Hermione started, forgetting where she was for a moment, and who she was with, as she worried about her appearance. However, everything flooded back to her and she turned to Ron with a questioning look on her face. Ron explained.  
  
"You've got dirt on your nose, did you know? Just there." Ron said teasingly, reminding Hermione of her first day on the train, heading to Hogwarts.  
  
"Thanks, Ron." Hermione thanked him again, blushing slightly, and blushing even more as one of his hands reached up to her face. A finger wiped the tip of her nose and they both smiled.  
  
"There. All better." He said.  
  
"Yeah, thanks." She said for a third time. She scolded herself. My God, I am an idiot. Ron, however, smiled.  
  
Ginny approached them. "Sorry you two, you'll have to cut this flirting session a bit short, we need to get a move on. The only reason mum let us come alone is because we promised we'd be quick." They walked out towards of The Leaky Cauldron, where the floo powder had taken them, and out to the back, facing a brick wall. Hemione and Ron blushed furiously as Harry opened the gateway to Diagon Alley. As they stepped on to the road, they noticed it had begun snowing! Just lightly, and it had obviously just started. It was a nice touch, though. They started to walk down the street, discussing Christmas this year. They decided that first of all, they'd stop off in The Three Broomsticks to get butterbeer. As they crossed over to the shop, Hermione shivered. Ron looked over at her, a concerned look on his face.  
  
"Hermione, are you alright?" Ron asked.  
  
"Yeah, it's just a bit chillier out than I expected." Hermione replied.  
  
"Here, have my cloak." Ron told her, taking his off. Wow, it was cold, Ron realized.  
  
"No, really, it's too cold out for you not to have one on. Keep it, I'll be fine." Hermione resisted.  
  
Ron shook his head. "No, here, you need it more than me. I don't care if I'm cold."  
  
Hermione smiled as Ron wrapped his cloak around her shoulders and brought her closer to him. She felt warmer now, not really because of the cloak, but because of who she was next to. Ron felt the same way and he tenatively reached out for her hand. Hermione smiled at him and he grabbed her small hand in his large one as they strolled in to The Three Broomsticks. Harry and Ginny were waiting for them when they sat at the table; they had already gotten four butterbeers, so Hermione and Ron sat right down. Harry and Ginny looked from Ron, without a cloak, to Hermione, with two cloaks, and to Ron's and Hermione's hands, which were intertwined with each other. The smiled and then became very interested in their butterbeers. Ron and Hermione smiled at each other, and Ron's ears turned a bit red. She sighed, loving when he did that.  
  
They sat there awhile, chatting about various things, and finishing their butterbeers. Harry and Ginny excused themselves from the table, telling Ron and Hermione that they would meet them outside. Hermione was about to stand up when she heard a familiar voice call her.  
  
"Hermy-own-ninny?" He called?  
  
Hermione turned around. "Viktor?" she called.  
  
It turned out that he was sitting two tables over. He came over to their table and sat down. "Hermy-own-ninny, it's good to see you!" Hermione smiled and nodded, and Ron tensed up. Viktor turned to him. "And Ron, is it?" He asked. "Yes." Ron answered and nodded tersely in a rigid voice. Krum looked at them, and then at their hands, and questioned. "Hermy-own-ninny, vy are you sitting like that vith him? He is just your friend, is he not?" Hermione bit her lip.  
  
"Vy don't you just shove it and get on vith your own business?" Ron asked Krum, imitating him. Krum flushed and Hermione forced back a smile.  
  
"Vy don't you go avay stupid boy, you know nothing of Hermy-own-ninny." Krum said angrily.  
  
"I know how to pronounce her name right!" Ron nearly yelled.  
  
"Ron--" Hermione tried to cut in.  
  
"No, Hermione," Ron said, emphasizing her name, "Krum thinks that he's so brilliant. Prove it!"  
  
And they were off. Ron would fire off a "Did You Know?" question at Krum and then Krum would do the same thing to Ron. Hermione's mouth fell open as they fired off questions continuously for at least ten minutes. Then...  
  
Ron sat, breathing heavily, his face red and showing signs of the utmost hatred for Viktor. "Well..." Ron huffed. "Did you know... That I love her?"  
  
Hermione gasped. Viktor looked like he was about to explode. Hermione turned to Ron, eyes wide.   
  
"Really, Ron?"  
  
"Really." Ron replied.   
  
Hermione had never felt happier, never, even when she scored 112% on her Charms exam years ago. But none of that mattered anymore, because none of it compared. She hugged Ron tightly. So tightly, in fact, she realized that he must need more air.   
  
"Oh I'm so sorry" She said, releasing him.  
  
"I'd rather have you than oxygen." He smiled back.  
  
And then it happened: their first kiss. It was wonderful, it was... Beyond words, so to try and describe it would be absolutely pointless. And then...  
  
No, NOT now! From far away, her mother's voice calling her name gently. "Hermione. Hermione..." She shook her gently.  
  
Hermione reluctantly let go of her reverie. Damn, but that had been so good. So... perfect. She looked up at her mother.   
  
"Sorry mum, what did you say?" She asked.  
  
"Finish your breakfast, dear." Mrs. Granger requested.  
  
"Oh... No thanks mum, I'm full." Hermione replied. She got up from her chair and gathered her mostly uneaten breakfast, throwing her bagel in the bin, and pouring her orange juice down the drain. She washed the dishes quickly and went back up to her room to get her things. If only it hadn't been a dream.... Gosh, she had fallen for him, and fallen hard. She never expected it when they first met, but he was so cute. A prat at time, and defensive, and sometimes easily offended (but she knew she was just the same, probably much more so even). She sighed again. She loved that little touchy thing.  
  
...................................  
  
Ron rubbed his head where his head had been hit, even though the pain had subsided long ago. "Prat." Ron mumbled, getting up and walking across his room in order to retrieve his pillow. He set his pillow back on his bed and went to his small dresser to set out some muggle clothing to wear to the station. He chose a pair of very worn out trousers and a black jumper. He got out his trainers and was looking through his drawers for socks when he opened a drawer and found pages and pages of parchment written in Hermione's neat handwriting. He picked up the stack and flipped through a few pages. He was holding every letter Hermione had ever written to him. He knew when you thought about it, having a drawer only for a girl's letters, it sounded a tad obsessive, but in all fairness, he didn't really even have a lot of things, and had some extra space. As he gazed over her letters, he thought 'God, even her writing's perfect...'  
  
He heard his mum calling him from the kitchen and that brought him back to reality. He gave his head a slight shake, put the letters quickly back in his drawer and shut it, and sat down on his bed. As he put on his trainers, he insulted his family in his head. He hated when they came into his room, especially without knocking! I mean, he had been asleep so Ginny couldn't really knock and expect him to hear it, and -- Wait a minute, who's side was he on?  
  
He walked into the kitchen a few minutes later to find his mum at the stove and Ginny, Fred, and George sitting down at the table. He took a seat next to Ginny as Mrs. Weasley went around the table, giving everyone healthy helpings of eggs, bacons, and sausages. She then went back to the counter and brought them over a glass of orange juice and toast each.  
  
"Now eat up quickly, you don't want to be late!" She said, before walking back to the stove and moving it into the sink, where, with a flick of her wand, the pot began to wash itself.  
  
Ron picked up his fork hungrily and took a few bites of his eggs. Then he turned to his bacon and ate a slice with gusto. It was a moment before he noticed that all eyes at the table were on him. He looked up and notice that Ginny, Fred, and George were smirking at him. He tried asking what was the matter, but his mouth was so stuffed with food that he could even mutter it, so he chewed hurrily and forced himself to swallow it (with a bit of pain as it all slid down his throat rather uncomfortably).  
  
"What's the matter with all of you?" He asked after taking a large gulp of orange juice and returning his gaze to his plate, looking for what to eat next.  
  
"I don't know why you're so hungry, from the way Ginny tells it, when she came in to your room this morning to tell you to get a move on, she had to hit you with stuff to keep you from eating your pillow!" George guffawed.  
  
"I--" Ron began, horrified.  
  
"I would quit it if I were you Ron, you don't want to lose your girlfriend if you keep snogging stuffed bits of cloth." Fred cut in.  
  
Ron turned to Ginny as his skin turned to red. "I. hate. you." Ron glowered.  
  
"Oh, we didn't need her to tease you," Fred said.  
  
"Yeah, we heard you shouting upstairs to Ginny that you loved Hermione." George continued, smiling evily.  
  
"I-- What?! I said didn't! Did NOT. Of course I like-- I meant DON'T like her! That's mad!" Ron said, stumbling over his words. The twins merely grinned at him. "Oh, go back to your joke shop!" He said furiously, getting out of his chair and going back to his room.  
  
"Touchy little thing, isn't he?" chorused the twins.

............................................

((A/N: The faster you review, the faster I'll type and post!))


	3. Train Of Thoughts

((A/N: Hey guys! I know I haven't updated in AGES! It's seemed 10 times longer to me, but a friend came in to town and we were so immersed in our hanging out stuff (I won't see her again for a long time -cries-) that I didn't have the time to update! It takes me awhile to get these up because I have to go through and italicize their thoughts. I'm SO sorry that this took so long but I do hope that you'll really enjoy this next chapter! I don't have the time at the moment for individual responses to all your reviews (but they were fantastical! I really am flattered that you guys like the fic so far, and believe me, I will continue writing!), but hopefully I will in the future. Next chapter I most likely will, so PLEASE read and review! And if you have any suggestions (I have a vague idea of where I want this to go but I've only written up to chapter 5, writing chapter 6 now, and I've planned out chapter 7 ... You know what, I'm rambling.) that I may be able to use in the future, either post them when you review (ahh, and you must review!) or send them to my e-mail, -- Thanks so much again, I love you guys and erm... Eat Jell-O and be merry!))

Chapter Three  
  
Train of Thoughts  
  
The trip to King's Cross Station was horrible for Ron. Harry arrived back at the Burrow just before they set out. He had been gone the past several days, but where he had gone, he wouldn't say, which angered Ron even more than he had already been. And, of course, as they rode in the car (supplied by Mundungus once again), Ron turned quite possibly the deepest shade of red he had as of yet as Ginny and the twins delightedly related this morning's events to Harry. By the time they reached the station, Ron was quite miffed and walked into the station without speaking. Harry, however, far from being sorry or sad about his behavior, was still quite amused at the thought of Ron shoving a pillow down his throat. He knew Ron had been dreaming of Hermione, he had liked her for ages. Wait. He stopped. Ron was shoving a pillow into his mouth thinking it was Hermione, his other best friend. Ew. Harry did not think it was quite as humorous anymore.  
  
Ginny ran through through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4 first, closely followed by Ron and then Harry. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley followed a moment later and said their goodbyes. They finally broke away when they realized the train was leaving in ten minutes, and they all really wanted to find their own compartment.  
  
"Goodbye dears, and stay out of trouble!" Mrs. Weasley commanded.  
  
"Bye mum! Bye dad!" Ginny and Ron chorused.  
  
"Goodbye Mr. and Mrs. Weasley!" Harry called over his shoulder as they walked towards the train.  
  
The three students walked towards the red train, winding through the crowd of various students, some they knew and yet many they had never met. Ron turned his head around as they walked. "I wonder where- OW!" He exclaimed as he toppled over. Harry laughed at Ron as he collided with another student. That's what he got for not paying attention to where he was going.  
  
Ron shot Harry a glare that silenced him as he struggled to get up. Then he turned to who he had bumped in to. She was still on the ground, on her hands and knees, picking up things off of the floor and putting them in to a bag that she had been carrying; they had obviously spilled all over when they knocked into each other.  
  
"Oh, let me help you with that," Ron said, getting on his knees again. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to-- HERMIONE!?"  
  
Harry's silent giggled ceased as soon as Ron called out Hermione's name. "Huh?" he asked, confused.  
  
Hermione turned around to face Ron. "Hey Ron." She said softly. "Thanks, but I've about got it all picked up." Ron didn't reply, but merely gaped. Harry came forth to see what all the fuss was about. "Hey Hermi--" His voice trailed off. Hermione smiled.  
  
"Hey Harry! How was your summer?" She asked friendly.  
  
"Huh? Oh, it was fine. You've...changed." He replied.  
  
"What? Oh, yes, well, I suppose I have a bit, she said, brushing away a few stray hairs that had fallen out of her headband's hold when she fell.  
  
Hermione picked up her bag and stood up. Ron, still kneeling on the ground, looked up at her. She smiled. "Need a hand?" Hermione asked. She reached out and got that wonderful feeling within her when she gripped his hand. At that moment, Harry snorted. They looked at him in confusion and he nodded back to them. They realized then exactly why he was laughing. Hermione, standing, Ron kneeling on the ground, his and her hands intertwined; it looked like Ron was about ready to propose. Nervously, Ron got up quickly and he and Hermione let go of each other's hands. Harry shook his head and started rolling away his trolley, telling them that he would find an empty compartment and they could catch up in a minute. An awkward silence followed.  
  
"So, erm..." She said nervously.  
  
"Hermione, you look er... Really different." Ron said.  
  
"Oh." Hermione said, not sure of how to take that.  
  
"Oh, not like that. In a good way. You look really different, but... Uhh... You look, like... Like good... and stuff." He finished, quite lamely.  
  
Hermione laughed. "Like good?"  
  
"Yeah, and stuff." Ron replied.  
  
((Ron's POV)) She didn't look good, she didn't look like stuff, she looked absolutely gorgeous! Right then and there I wanted to tell her that I loved her, that I loved her and never wanted to be apart from her for a single second. I had to control myself (believe me, it wasn't easy! If anyone's ever wanted to snog someone senseless more than I did in that moment, they probably would have exploded.)  
  
((Hermione's POV)) Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! He liked me. I mean, he liked how I looked. I was hoping for this! If ever anyone ever wanted to be in someone's arms more than I wanted to be in his arms in that moment, they'd simply die. Phew. Control yourself, Hermione. _Control...  
_  
They boarded the train a moment later and put their suitcases up on the racks. As Hermione seated herself in the compartment that Harry had chosen, Harry smiled and Ginny, who had gotten lost in all the commotion but had found Harry just before Ron and Hermione entered, gasped.  
  
"Hermione, it's so glad to see you!" She shrieked.  
  
"You, too, Gin." Hermione hugged Ginny.  
  
"Wow, you look fabulous! Gorgeous, more like it, actually0." Ginny complimented.  
  
"Oh, no, not really..." Hermione mumbled modestly.  
  
"No, really, you do. Superb. Doesn't she, Ron?" Ginny teased.  
  
Ron gulped. Hermione and Ginny continued talking until the train set off, and for a time after that. Hermione beamed the whole time, not really for Ginny's sake. She was ecstatic about seeing Ginny again, really she was, but as Ginny chatted on, Hermione eventually didn't participate as much as she did at first. She was in the middle of a reverie of Ron. He had really liked her... She sighed. As she dreamt about them together, alone, she thought up of so many romantic things he could say, as they were patrolling the corridors during prefect duty...  
  
OH NO! PREFECT DUTY! Hermione gasped as she clutched Ron's robes and then looked at her watch.  
  
"What is it, 'Mione? You alright?" Ron said, sitting up.  
  
"Ron, we were supposed to be in the prefect carriages ten minutes ago!" She shrieked.  
  
He stood up and she followed suit. They exchanged hurried goodbyes, saying that they'd come back as soon as possible, before rushing out of the carriage and up towards the front of the train.  
  
Ten minutes later they had exited the prefect's compartment. After a very rude comment from malfoy (which made both Ron and Hermione blush horribly), they strolled about the corridors together. Ron wondered if there had ever been so many awkward silences.  
  
"So, erm, 'Mione, had a nice summer?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah, it was really fantastic in Italy. It's actually a quite beautiful place. Nothing like home, though. It's great to be back; I really missed you." She said.  
  
Ron smiled. "Really?"  
  
_Oh my God, she missed me! She miiissed me, she miiissed me!_ Ron thought, floating on a beautiful cloud.  
  
_Oh my God, he's going to think that... He's going to know that I like him! I can't... Got to say something so that I don't sound like a freak... Speak Hermione, speak!_  
  
"Er... Yeah. I mean, I missed you and Harry and all, I felt like I was worlds away from home.  
  
_Nevermind._ Thought Ron. His cloud quickly evaporated as the sun decided it want to come out. Stupid sun, always messing up a nice, floaty cloud day. He fell silent as he thought of all the ways he could hurt the sun for making his day horrible now... Tear it apart? No... Set it on fire? Yes! ... Wait ...  
  
"Ron?" Hermione asked. Ron snapped back to reality at her voice, but wrote a mental post-it to finish the sun's demise at a later date. "Yes L--" Oh God, he almost called her Love! Damnit. He had to control himself! "Yes Hermione?" He said instead. "We've been patrolling for an awfully long time. We're allowed to go back to the compartment now." She wanted to get away from him, he knew it.  
  
Ron nodded and Hermione gave an inward groan. He wanted to get away from her, she knew it. _Great, Hermione, good job! You want to impress the love of your life and now he might think you too much of a freak to even be your friend!_ Hermione got the sudden impulse to whack her head against something. Hard.  
  
Ron pulled at his collar as they made their way down the train back to their compartment. An awkward silence passed over them as they passed several carriages without a word. Ron pulled at his robes uncomfortably and looked at his shoes as he searched his mind for something to say. His mind seemed to be out to lunch, however, as he got nothing. _It's hot. My God is it hot! Why isn't she saying anything? Why aren't I saying anything? Oh no, she's gonna think I'm weird! She's gonna find out I like her and be all repulsed and stuff and not want to be my friend anymore! No! She always gave me loads of chocolate frogs! And I like her, too! A lot, a lot a lot and .. Think Ron, think. Wow, this silence is painful. Really long. And did I mention painful? Why isn't she talking back to me? Oh no! That's because I'm not talking to her! Think... Think...  
_  
Ron coughed and cleared his throat, but it made no difference, as when he attempted to talk, his voice came out rather hoarse. "So... Erm, nice weather we've been having, eh?"  
  
Wait. He made another mental note to hurt himself later as his eyes drifted over to the nearest window on the train. Hermione's thoughts seemed to be about the same as her eyes darted to the window. A sheet of rain pounded against the window as the storm they were in the middle of continued. _Brilliant, Ron._ Ron thought.  
  
Hermione suppressed a giggle; she didn't know if Ron was having a go at actually talking or being sarcastic, but it was funny nonetheless and she turned away as a smile creeped upon her lips. She didn't want him to think she was making fun of him if he weren't trying to be funny.  
  
After what seemed like a walk of eternity, they reached a carriage approximately halfway down the train. They slid open the compartment door and walked in to find Harry, Ginny, and Neville all chatting merrily. They paused for a moment when Ron and Hermione appeared through the doorway. Harry smiled.  
  
"Hey Ron, hey Hermione. How were prefect duties?" Harry asked.  
  
"Good, thanks." Hermione replied. She sat down next to Ginny.  
  
Ron's eyes widened as he noticed that there was a seat left to Hermione. He shakily sat down next to her, hoping that he wasn't annoying her, or breathing in her oxygen or anything.  
  
As the train moved on, passing fields of wheat and rows of corn, they chatted a bit, but Ron wasn't paying that much attention. Well, he was paying attention to one person in particular in the space; Hermione, of course. He had his head turned to the window so as not to let her see him blushed if he possibly did. He vaguely noticed that his eyes must be glazing over as he thought of her.  
  
He noted everytime she laughed. It was beautiful; so adorable. It was cute and small, just like her. It was bright and shone ever so brightly in his mind's eye. Sneaking the shortest of looks over at her, he mentally memorized the picture. Right now her fair, soft cheeks were tinged with pink as she gasped for breath; she was giggling quite a lot. Everything seemed to slow down, the world stopped turning as her soft perfect-for-holding-in-his hand reached up as she put her head down. She sheilded her eyes as her shoulders shook slightly with the growing intensity of her giggles. He didn't know what he'd do if she giggled for him. Her grin, so flawless just like the rest of her, shone brightly across the space. He loved it. He loved her, of course, he didn't know why he kept telling himself that, since he had known it for ages, but it was so blissful to say it in his mind. He wondered what it would be like to voice this. Bah, no, he couldn't, because here she was not paying attention to him. She was paying attention to ... someone else.  
  
Hermione felt her cheeks grow hot with a tinge of pinkish color. She was embarrassed at first as she was blushing because she was thinking of Ron. But thankfully, she was also partly involved in a conversation with Ginny, Harry, and Neville, and they seemed to think that she was merely laughing along with them and her cheeks were reddening as a result of her having to breathe a bit harder. Oh goodness, she was so nervous. She looked over at Ron for only a second to capture the image of him in her mind. Quite luckily, she had a photographic memory. In that small bit of an instant, she memorized every crevice of his face in that moment. Her heart broke into several peices as she saw he didn't appear completely happy. With any luck, he wasn't mad. She wanted to die when she made him mad. She usually stayed up the entire night after doing so, mentally kicking herself. She moved back to the picture of Ron now implanted in her memory (She looked at him so often, she could have a library of photo albums. Hermione supposed that's what happened when you used more than 10% of your brain: you make mental scrapbooks. Or go mad and can't figure out how to tie your shoes. You know, whatever.) ... His freckled yet tan skin sent chills down her spine and she smiled even more so than she had been when she thought of his gorgeous, shiny red hair that fell so nicely over his eyes when he looked down, and which he now so often ruffled with his hand, making his hair appear to be wind blown. _God was he sexy. I know, I know. I'm Hermione Granger. Sexy isn't supposed to be part of my vocabulary, but even if I said he was lascivious, that wouldn't change how I felt. He's downright sexy and that's the bottom line._ She exhaled deeply as she realized, with a sudden jerk, that she had been thinking of Ron for ages. Oh, how she wanted to run her lips among every nook and cranny of his beautiful face, but she supposed she'd have to think about that later. Right now she jerked her head back to the conversation and chuckled slightly to fit in.  
  
Ron rested his head against the cool, misty window and gazed outside, thinking of her and her laugh. Laugh again, he urged her in his mind. Just once more. Wait... He pondered for a moment. He wasn't talking, yet she was laughing. So she wasn't laughing at one of his jokes, yet someone elses. So... God this was taking a long time to contemplate in his head, but his face reddened in anger as he arrived at the answer. Someone else was making her laugh! Oh my God, did she like someone else? He'd kill him, he'd kill whoever -- Ron searched around for who was telling these jokes.  
  
"And then" Harry choked out, "He says to me, he says 'To get to the other side!'"  
  
He'd kill ... Harry?! NO! Damnit. Ah well, he'd do what had to be done! Wait, what was he thinking? He couldn't kill his best friend! Unless he did it real sneakily... He could smush his face with a pillow and then -- Wait, no. Ron willed himself to stop thinking of Harry's expiration now; he already had to worry about the sun. Instead of pummeling Harry, he decided that it would be more constructive to join the conversation. So, nervously turning from the window, he gulped and laughed at Harry's latest riddle, to which the answer was nothing.  
  
"Do you wanna give it a go?" Harry asked Ron.  
  
"What?" Ron asked.  
  
"A riddle. G'head, try one." Harry urged.  
  
Ron started to sweat ... _A riddle, a riddle -- Oh no!_ He thought, as he heard what came out of his mouth next. It seemed as if another person said it, and he had to sit there and listen to it tumble nervously out of his mouth and could do nothing to stop it.  
  
"Er...O-okay, Um... Okay. What's brown and sticky?"  
  
A silence followed his riddle as the others pondered this, but they shook their heads, not knowing what to guess.  
  
"A stick." Ron answered.  
  
An even longer silence followed this, save for one voice: Hermione. She snorted with laughter and her cheeks turned instantly red, before she gasped and cupped her face in her hands.  
  
_Oh no._ Hermione thought to herself. _Oh no oh no, why did I laugh at that? I mean, it was... Well, I couldn't help it, he's so adorable! I have to save him, of course -- but what to say? New topic, okay, new topic, Hermione ..._ She cast around in her head for a moment before deciding on a topic. She directed the topic towards teachers. That couldn't be too dangerous, could it?  
  
She was wrong.  
  
"Weirdest teacher?" Harry asked.  
  
"Hmm, well Professor Sprout can become a bit dotty at times, but she's really nice and loads helpful when you're confused." Neville answered.  
  
"What about Lockhart?" Ginny reminded them, with a grin, of their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in their second year; highly fond of fame yet a drastic liar, he now resided in a permanent St. Mungo's ward after a spell backfired on him when he tried to modify Ron's and Harry's memories whilst heading down into the Chamber of Secrets.  
  
Ron tried to participate in the conversation. He thought the answer was obvious.  
  
"How 'bout that professor Trelawney... Yeah, her hair's kinda bushy, eh? I MEAN" His eyes widened as he didn't want to offend Hermione, "- I mean I like bushy hair." But he didn't want her to know he liked her, either! He fumbled over his words, "Wait! No, I hate -- I like. I don't like her, that's gross. Professor Trelawney, I mean. Like, I don't like her like that. Or like this or anything. I mean I kinda like- hate- can stand... I mean, like, her glasses could fry a whole friggin' ant colony." He settled on.  
  
Hermione couldn't control herself; she laughed hard at this statement. Then, at the same time, Hermione and Ron turned away from each other, their eyes wide with embarrassment and their cheeks red as strawberry Jell-O. They put their heads in their hands and wished they could be anywhere but here. Hmm.. anywhere. With each other!  
  
No! They both stopped themselves from thinking the thought that they wanted to think and thought of every day. Hermione, Ginny, and Neville all grinned; they thought both Ron and Hermione would like nothing better at the moment than to throw themselves under the Hogwarts Express. When Ron and Hermione looked up, they noticed everyone was flashing them knowing smiles (They didn't dare look at each other lest they die from shock and embarrassment) - They shot the other three in the compartment glowering looks, as they each didn't want the other one to catch on that they liked them. That would be terrible. Not terrible, even. More like the Apocalypse.  
  
The train ride continued as they talked more about teachers:  
  
"Most boring teacher?" Ginny asked.  
  
"Binns." Everyone replied in unison.  
  
"Yeah... yeah, he's dead now." Ron stated.  
  
And varied to things like the next school year and magic in general:  
  
"Yeah, so... Seems like this magic thing is here to stay, eh?" Ron said nervously.  
  
Hermione cursed herself all the way to Hogwarts and almost put a silencing charm on herself. She couldn't believe what she was doing; she laughed at each and every one of Ron's feeble jokes. She couldn't help it; she couldn't help but smile every time those perfect lips parted.  
  
They had long ago changed into their wizard robes, and Ron pulled at his continuously for five minutes straight before exclaiming wildly "Bloody hell, did they move Hogwarts to another country? Why aren't we there yet?!" He felt extremely stupid when he found out that they hadn't been going all _that_ long. But he marvelled at how long it usually took to get to Hogwarts; this time seemed to be magnified ten times now.  
  
Finally, the train started to slow. He gazed out the window impaciently.  
  
"Hey, does anyone ever wonder why the bloody hell it always seems to be raining when we come to Hogwarts? Is it a theme or something?"  
  
Harry smiled and said "Bloody hell? Seem to be quite fond of that phrase even more so than usual. But c'mon, Ron, stop fogging up the window with your thoughts of Hermione-"  
  
Ron whirled around and glared at Harry murderously. _Thank God_, he thought a split second later. _Hermione's not in here anymore. Wait, she's left? I've gotta find her, I can't lose her! Even if it is just going up to Hogwarts.. Wait, Hermione! Damn!_ He cursed himself for dawdling on his thoughts of her when the real thing was leaving. He stormed out of the carriage before Harry could even finish his words of "-And let's get going to the feast." Harry did a double take as he realized his best friend wasn't drooling at the thought of the feast. _My God, he must like her a lot. More than food!_ Harry gaped at the thought of Ron caring about a girl more than food.


	4. Mad and Glad

((A/N: Okay, guys, I know I haven't updated in forever. I know. But my computer seriously SUCKS. So I found a way to do it here, at my grandparent's house. At one thirty in the morning. Er, so here it is! Reviews will be next chapter I SWEAR, and they will be lengthy. Next chapter will be up either later today or in the next two days. I am SO sorry for the long wait, and if you have anything to bring up with me, please do so at my e-mail address, , or on AIM at PuReBlOoDaNgElZ. I hope you enjoy this chapter, I think that I like it a lot. Also, it's not my longest chapter, but chapter five more than makes up for it. So, happy reading!

Toodles,

-Starr

PS -- I really, REALLY hope that this works! The compy's acting up...))

Chapter Four  
  
Mad and Glad  
  
Harry gave his head a slight shake, ending his thoughts, and followed everyone else outside the train. As he stepped outside, he greatly wished he had used impervius to shield himself from the rain, but even as the thought occurred to him, it was no good; he was immediately soaked.  
  
Ron and Hermione had lost Neville and Ginny in the crowd and were walking through the mud towards the carriages. They were both getting soaked and casting around for something to do, Ron found himself holding his hand over Hermione's head. She gave him a curious look and he smiled uneasily.  
  
"Just... I was trying to help you stay dry." He said, now looking at his feet.  
  
Hermione laughed. I'm glad it's dark. she thought. I haven't blushed this much since ... Well, the last time Ron talked to me.  
  
They sloshed through the grounds, walking towards the waiting carriages. They stood in line while students got into carriages and set off towards the castle. They were almost to the front of the line when Ron glanced around and noticed that they were still alone. The same thought seemed to have struck Hermione. They looked at each other through the dark night and smiled at each other, although their grins were rather unsettled. A carriage pulled up and the door swung open; Ron and Hermione gazed around and realized that they were not only still alone, but also next in line. Blusing lavishly, Ron helped Hermione into the carriage, before getting in himself.  
  
The carriage set off shakily. The ride up to the castle, much like the train ride, seemed to take quite a bit more time than most years. Ron would look at Hermione, then look away, and vice versa, and then they'd look at each other and blush a bit. Ron put his head up to the carriage window. It was still raining, but the moon shone through the sky nevertheless, a beacon of hope that brighter times would come. Ron hoped this was true, because as it were, he felt he'd like nothing more than to go try and have a chat with Aragog at the moment. He sighed and his breath fogged up the window. He looked at the moon once again, wishing for something to break the silence. Then he turned his gaze to the ground. The grass on either side of the carriage was doused in rainwater pouring down from the heavens. At least the sun isn't out. Ron thought. Ruins everything, it does.  
  
Ron and Hermione honestly did try to start a conversation, but every time that they did, their words were punctured by loud silences that made Ron wince and Hermione wish that she could go have a chat with a Basilisk instead of sit through this torture. When they weren't sittng there in awkward embarrassment, their speech kept finding its way back to words such as "Err..." "So..." and "Umm..." Hermione sighed. This was going to be a long ride up to the castle. Ron was right back on the train; they must have moved Hogwarts.  
  
And so it was. However, finally, the carriage set up the last and most bumpy bit of slope before they reached the castle. When the carriage stopped, Ron got out first and held open the door for Hermione. She swept some loose strands of hair away from her face and took a calming breath. Okay, Hermione, remain calm. Why am I so jittery, I wasn't even this nervous for my O.W.L.s! Ugh being head over heels for someone sucks. All the blood is constantly rushing to my head when he touches me! Ron reached into the carriage and extended a shaky hand to Hermione, and gently pulled her out. Like now! Hermione inwardly sighed.  
  
She continued to scold herself, telling her to remain calm, Ron was just helping her out of the carriage, while they walked towards the oepn doors leading into the Entrance Halls. However, as Hermione breathed deeply and gave herself mental commands, she lowered her eyelids to concentrate on her thoughts. This meant that she forgot about the steps you had to climb in order to get to the palace doors. This meant that she fell. Painfully.  
  
"Ow!" Hermione exclaimed after knocking into a step and falling painfully.  
  
"'Mione, are you alright?" Ron asked worriedly, kneeling down whilst he bit his lip.  
  
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Hermione gasped, clutching her ankle. "Just a bit clumsy."  
  
Hermione smiled at Ron who returned a concerning half grin. Hermione pushed herself to her knees, which caused her to gasp in pain as she hadn't realized that she had scraped her left knee. The gash wasn't deep, but it was bleeding. Hermione proceeded to stand up, which quite aside from relieving her pain, made it much more apparent in her face. She bit her lip and her eyes watered up. She tried to take a few wobbly steps, but didn't exactly succeed (that is, she nearly fell again and it was evident that she shouldn't be walking up the steps into the castle), so Ron, with such anxiousness that his knees became wobbly, bent down (where Hermione was bending over, grabbing on to and rubbing her ankle again) and gathered Hermione in his arms. He lifted her up and she put her arms around his neck as he walked up the steps.  
  
As they walked up the steps, Ron looked around, hoping that Hermione couldn't feel his heartbeat against her. It was going wild! Urgh, stupid heart! That's next to go! I'll rip it out and chop it up... Wait.... Hermione as well was rather shaken up. Oh my gosh, please don't let my heart jump out my moth! My insides feel all jumbled, and ... Oh no! I hope that he can't feel my heart beating against his chest. That would be so embarrassing!  
  
Ron walked over the threshold with Hermione a moment later, and...  
  
Wait.  
  
Ron gaped and looked back at the doorway. Then he looked at Hermione. Doorway. Hermione. Him. Holding. Hermione. Walking over that... That strip of doorway thingy! Bah!  
  
Ron heard fits of laughter from somewhere to his left. Standing off to the side were Harry, Ginny, and Neville, and they seemed to catch on to what Ron had just noticed. In between gasps of laughter, they struggled out words.  
  
"Didn't even invite us to the wedding..." Harry said, shaking his head.  
  
((Ron's POV)) I stopped breathing. I walked with Hermione in my arms across a threshold. First cops, now this? Wait, no, what I'm searching for is first I look like I'm proposing and now this? Everyone's going to think I'm weird! I have to get out of this situation quickly. Ummm what can I do. They can't know I like Hermione, it's getting almost to the point where one of my friends could pick up on it! Ron bit his lip and then an idea popped into his head.  
  
And then Ron let go of Hermione.  
  
((Hermione's POV)) Oh my goodness. If this all does not cease and desist this moment I swear I will see everything I have eaten today on this marble floor along with my stomach, heart, and other necessary internal organs. Hermione freaked as she realized what Harry, Ginny, and Neville were chuckling about. But hey, she thought, smiling, At least I won't have to ruin my shoes in my vomit because Ron's holding me! Rooon issss hoooolding meee! She chanted in her mind. Then: No! Oh no stop smiling Hermione, you know it's almost to the point where Harry and Ginny could pick up that you liked Ron! Okay, breathe Hermione, breathe...  
  
Hermione's breathing was interrupted, however, when she hit the floor hard when Ron let go of her.  
  
"Ouch!" She exclaimed.  
  
Quite apart from being satisfied and dropping the idea that Hermione and Ron liked each other, the three spectators collapsed into helpless giggles. Ron's face reddened in embarrassment; Hermione's, anger.  
  
Rubbing her back, she got shakily up, glaring at everyone.  
  
"Thanks, Ron, because my ankle didn't hurt enough, I was just hoping for a bruised back."  
  
With a scathing look at all of them, she turned on her heel and limped into the hall.  
  
Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes and down her face as she sniffled and staggered to the Gryffindor table. She sat down and rubbed her ankle for a moment. It really hurt, even more so now with her back in pain. However, as she saw Harry, Ron, Neville, and Ginny enter the Great Hall, she took her hands off of her ankle and picked up her napkin, with which she dabbed at her eyes. She placed her napkin on her lap and picked up her knife and fork. Hermione stared straight ahead of her with perfect posture, a stony expression upon her face. Her expression did not change as she noticed Ron, Harry, Ginny, and Neville making their way towards her out of the corner of her eye, nor did she flinch as they all sat down with worried looks on their faces. Ginny spoke up first.  
  
"Hermione, are you alright?" Ginny asked.  
  
Hermione did not reply, nor did she incline her head towards Ginny to indicate that she had heard her. When she remained silent, the group's visage increased with unease. Ginny tried again.  
  
"Hermione, what are you doing?" Ginny asked, eyeing the utensils in Hermione's hands.  
  
Hermione sighed inwardly for the umpteenth time that night, it seemed. She didn't want to be mad at Ron ever, and she couldn't just ignore her best friend. Ginny always talked to her even when she was cross. She should show her the same respect.  
  
"Waiting for dinner." Came Hermione's tense reply. Her voice was oddly controlled, and even though it was steady, you could detect a quiver masquerading behind her sullen face and composed vocals.  
  
"Dinner's not for a while, Hermione. We've still got to sit through the sorting and Dumbledore's speech." Harry commented.  
  
"You're my friend, Harry, you should know by now that I like to get ahead in things. I'm just waiting." She said in a monotone voice.  
  
Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville once again exchanged glances. Then Ron turned to her, biting his lip. She saw him for an instant out of the corner of his eye. He seemed to be contemplating how to say something. He also seemed to be very distressed. Good. It's not that she didn't love him, she really did, but why did he have to do that? She had the extreme urge to cry but struggled to hold her tears back.  
  
"Hermione..." Ron said, his voice breaking.  
  
Hermione sighed. She hated him yet loved him at the same time and was on the fence about which one to display to him.  
  
"Yes Ronald." Hermione said coldly, still deciding what to do.  
  
Ron took a deep breath. "Hermione, please don't be cross with me. We've been best friends for like ever. Okay, well, not really, but for a really long time and I don't want to lose one of the best friends I've ever had. I know I shouldn't have dropped you. It was an accident. Sorry, and, well, I hope you're not too mad, and I hope your back and your ankle and your knee are all alright. And your head, if you bumped that too, I'm not sure. Or whatever else you hit. You know what, I hope whatever you hurt is alright, because I don't know what the bloody hell I made you whack. And... Um, yeah, I'm really sorry and I'd give up all the chocolate frog cards in the world if you'd forgive me. And, erm, that's all." He finished.  
  
Hermione felt all her anger dissolve right there on the spot. He'd give up chocolate frog cards for her! She nearly swooned. However, she had to keep up an appearance of some sort and she settled for just sighing contentedly and looking at Ron.  
  
"I forgive you." She said.  
  
"Really?" Ron said, a smile creeping upon his lips.  
  
"Mmhmm." Hermione replied, setting down her knife and fork.  
  
However, when she set down her fork, she set it too close to the table's edge; consequently it fell off. Ron and Hermione both bent down under the table to retrieve it. As they both bend down, their cheeks bumped against each other and their hands clasped over each others. They looked at each other and both blushed. Hermione grabbed her fork and sat up. Ron, still looking where Hermione had been only a moment before, against his cheek, began to sit up as well, and as he did so, he bumped his head painfully against the table. As he rubbed his head, Ron felt the weight of another's hand upon his scalp. He looked over and saw Hermione looking at him with a look of concern on her face.  
  
"Ron, are you alright?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Yeah, fine, 'Mione." Ron said with an odd guffaw.  
  
Hermione raised an eyebrow while Ron became infuriated with himself. Why did he laugh so stupidly like that? Well, he knew it was because she had been concerned about him. But couldn't he have held that in?! He continued to point out everything that he had done wrong in the past short while. Meanwhile, Hermione was doing something very similar, and making mental notes on how best to improve in the future. Neither of them noticed, as they were lost in their own reveries, that the hall had become very silent as Professor McGonagall placed a stool and a very old, tattered hat on a stool. The sorting then began, but neither lovesick student paid much attention, although Ron did think he heard the word 'spork' come up somewhere. He was lost in thoughts of her, and she wanted to think of nothing but him.


	5. Fraternizing With The Friend

((A/N: Hey guys! Woah, I did NOT expect to get any reviews this soon! I just posted earlier today, and I have reviews! WOOt! I know a lot of people (like michelleywelley, who is practically the best fan fic writer ever!) who have a lot more reviews than I do, but I feel so special when I just get one! So, to all my readers and reviewers:

THANK YOU!

I'm compelled to post this next chapter right now! I won't be updating it for at least a day (although I must say that it is so incredibly hard not to update when you have a new chapter ready) or two, but that's okay -- no way you guys can say this chapter isn't long enough! Chapter four was six pages. This one's seventeen. Tee hee, I think you'll really enjoy it. It is by far my favorite chapter (until I get to chapter eight, which is still waiting to be written. I'm about to start on chapter seven as soon as I post this. But I do have chapter seven, eight, and part of nine planned out). But before I post anything, I must thank my gracious reviewers, who, once again, I love! These aren't in any specific order, really, I'm just going to read them off randomly from my list of reviews. I love you all the same and hope that you will continue to read and review. I don't know if a lot of you will read your replies to your reviews, because you may have stopped reading (-tear!-) … These reviews range from chapters two to four.

Chapter Two Reviews:

VietNaMaEnglish: Tee hee, I like those moments, too! Thanks, and believe me, I will -- I'm addicted to writing R/Hr fics!

Concealed: I know I didn't update soon for ages, but this one's a really rapid update -- Hope you like!

Daydreamer1127: Thank you very much! Yes, I love the twins, too: Good prankers, a little devilish, and.. Oh yeah, hott!

Hpfan8888888: Was that enough 8s there! I hope so, lol… Well, I will of course keep writing. And thank you so much, I'm really flattered!

Aikenlicious: Yeah, I know, I feel bad for him, too. But I can't lie -- It's fun writing about how his siblings tease him and such, because I've been there so many times myself.

True-gryffindor: Thanks . More chapters on their way!

NetMarie:Lol, touchy big thing, eh? This next chapter's EXTREMELY big. I hope you like it! And don't worry, not everyone can stay up reading michelle's entire fic -- I mean, any chapter -- at one time. You may have to come back a few times to finish this chapter!

Also -- Thanks SO much for mentioning michelleywelley's fics! I live for them, lol, and it flatters me so much to know that someone would think of me highly like we all think highly of her. I'm sure I'm no where as good, but hey, you reviewed, and that's good enough for me! So thanks!

Magnolia Lane: Hey! When are you giving me your next chapter, eh? Tee hee, can't wait to read it! I love the part with the pillow, as well.

Shinegami's Little Sis: Hey Vanna, I'm glad you liked it! I luv yalls reviews lots -- Keep reviewing, and I'll keep writing!

MWPP Fanatic: Thanks for mentioning something specific about my writing. It makes me feel like you're focused on what you read, and that's really kool. I love the attention! Yes, poor Ron, lol! But really, I love that part. Which is odd, because usually I hate my writing. Oh, and yes, I try to make at least some of their dreams sound very realistic.

Artemisgirl: That's actually the first time someone has called my writing hysterical -- Thanks, I love comedy!

Oh, my goodness! I have to leave! I will post everyone else's reviews next chapter, in the next two days, I PROMISE!

Love yall!

Toodles,

-Starr))

**Chapter Five  
  
Fraternizing With The Friend**  
  
The Sorting ended and McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat and the stool away. Hermione was slightly aware of this, but Ron did not notice until he looked up and saw Dumbledore standing, greeting the students.  
  
"Welcome, all, to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few start of term notices to give out. First years, please think yourself lucky. For everyone's information, next year all first years will be sorted in a more forceful manner, troll wrestling, due to the fact that you're all terribly hard to feed since you've never heard word of you having to pay tuition, and we need to shrink class size down a tad. Everyone, please venture into the Forbidden Forest. It's tons of fun. Come on, give it a shot. Oh yes, Filch figures he will never get you to stop using magic in the corridors, so he's given up." Dumbledore made a motion to sit down, but then stood up quickly and added as an after thought, "Oh and I forgot. Also, I am a pathological liar. Thank you."  
  
Ron gave his head a little shake. Surely he didn't hear that? He must have been dreaming. After all, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. He put that thought out of his mind as he heard gasps from the first years and excited chattering from everyone else when an abundancre of food appeared on each house table, as well as the high table.  
  
Ron usually had an enormous appetite. He loaded his plate with the usual: roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, steak and kidney pie, roast beef, some ketchup and peas... However, when he took his first bite, he looked around, chewing slowly while pondering. Ususally by now he'd have been done with his first chicken leg and delving in excitedly, shoveling his mashed potatoes in to his mouth. But now, he took his time as his thoughts drifted back to Hermione.  
  
Hermione, meanwhile, was thinking of Ron and poking her peas repeatedly with her fork without enthusiasm. They were starting to split open, and in a few moments some of them were not small spherical, slightly diluted green vegetables, but a small pile of diluted green mush.  
  
"Er...Hermione?" Harry asked gently.  
  
"Hmm?" Hermione's head snapped up; she seemed to come out of a trance.  
  
"Er, may I inquire as to what the peas did to you?" Harry pointed out.  
  
"What, Harry?" Hermione asked. She looked down at her plate. "Oh. Well, I didn't mean to, I was just thinking and eating a bit... I mean, they wouldn't stay on the fork. I mean, I wasn't very hungry."  
  
"Right." Harry replied, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Ron and Hermione kept up this unusual behavior all through dinner. Hermione had gone back to squashing her peas. But suddenly, when she stabbed down again and hit her plate, it brought her out of a lovely dream she had been having.  
  
"Wha--Where'd my peas go? Where's my dinner?" Hermione asked, looking around.  
  
"Hermione, dinner's over and we're about to start dessert." Ginny answered.  
  
Hermione looked over at Ron. He had that crooked grin and was staring off into space, apparently under the impression that there were still mashed potatoes on his plate as he was swirling his fork around in a continuous circle. She laughed to herself and wondered what he was thinking of. She hoped that she was right in guessing what about, but for all she knew, Ron was probably thinking about Quidditch. She sighed deeply; that was the problem with Ron! He always seemed so dense, and she just couldn't figure out if he really was.  
  
Twenty minutes later, Hermione had a very large grin on her face. You see, she had for the entire dinnertime, contemplated a situation in which Ron might get the nerve to kiss her in the Great Hall. She cupped her face in her hand as her elbow rested against the table. Very bad table manners, but for dreaming about the love of her life, Hermione Granger was quite willing indeed to sacrifice things such as table manners.  
  
With a jerk, she realized that everyone around her was rising to go to their dormitories. She looked around and spotted Harry, Ginny, and Neville beginning to walk slowly towards the doors and she tapped Ron on the shoulder. He, too, snapped his head up and looked around.  
  
"Wassamatta?" Ron asked frantically. "Where's the troll?"  
  
Hermione gave him a confused look, because she wasn't aware that while Ron had been stirring his mashed potatoes (at first, of course; he later took up stirring nothing, although he did not realize this), he had been having a spectacular reverie where he saved Hermione single handedly from a ghastly troll, bigger than he'd ever imagined, which all ended in a kiss, before he and Hermione danced under the moonlight... Where the moonlight came, he didn't know, as when he dreamed it, they had been in a dungeon, but... Odd things happen in your dreams, and he wasn't about to worry about small details when he could worry over having her in his arms. He heard someone calling his name from far off once again, like he had so many times that day.  
  
"Ron? Ron..." Hermione said, tapping his shoulder.  
  
"Huh?" Ron asked, staring around again. "Sorry, Hermione, got caught up in thinking about... Stuff."  
  
Hermione noted how he stared at the ground when he said this.  
  
"Right. Well, Ron, erm, everyone's leaving and we really have to show the first years to the dormitories." Hermione said, her confused expression at Ron's words still ebbing away.  
  
"Oh, yeah," Ron said desolately, "The little half pints."  
  
"Ron!" Hermione shot him an angry look.  
  
"Oh, yeah, sorry..." Ron replied. "Shouldn't call them halfpints.  
  
"That's quite alright--" Hermione started, smiling.  
  
"Half pints make me think of alcohol, which is quite more appealing than snooty little kids, so I'll stop insulting the firewhiskey while we look for the little munchkins--"  
  
Hermione groaned. She wasn't even going to try to correct him lest he start apologizing for comparing munchkins with those little snot rags, and then apologizing for insulting snot rags because they were much more useful than those little--  
  
Hermione brought herself out of her trance and called commandingly to the Gryffindor first years.  
  
"First years, first years! Over here please!" Hermione scanned the table for first years while Ron yawned and examined his fingernails.  
  
After a minute or so, Hermione seemed satisfied that all the first year Gryffindors had gathered around her. She spoke to them commandingly.  
  
"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger and this is Ron Weasley--" Hermione elbowed Ron painfully in the side. "--We're Gryffindor prefects. We're going to show you where your dormitories will be, as long as some other key aspects of the school. As you already know, this is the Great Hall, where you will be eating all your meals. Now please follow me and stay close together. we don't need anyone getting lost, now."  
  
As the group walked out of the Great Hall, Ron stared at Hermione out of the corner of his eye. He marveled at... her... her, um, well her nothing, just her. She took control of these little prats so easily, and they listened to her, raising no objections. All Ron ever got was lip back, which then resulted in him wanting nothing more to smack the little brats; he told Harry and Hermione time and time again: they had NOT been that horrible when they were first years.  
  
Ron walked on dully in the front of the group with Hermione. He let her do all the talking as his eyelids begged to close. All he had done all day was daydream; Ron thought that actually dreaming of Hermione would be a nice change from the usual daytime reveries. Her words weaved in and out of his sleepy ambitions to reach his comforting four poster as she pointed out various sights.  
  
"...Hogwarts has a total of 182 staircases. You want to be careful while walking around, especially in your first year as it will take you awhile to get used to everything. The staircases like to move, and some of them have trick steps halfway up that you have to remember to jump. And then there's the doors..." Hermione's soothing voice spoke to the first years about the cautions of the castle as they climbed yet another staircase.  
  
"Here we are." Hermione said, stopping in front of the Fat Lady's portrait. "Here is the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. You need the password to enter, and make sure you can remember it, because otherwise you'll find yourself staying outside for a while until someone comes along in your house. Also, don't forget to note when the password changes, as it does quite often."  
  
"Password?" the Fat Lady asked as Hermione turned to face her.  
  
"Pixie dust." Hermione gave the password.  
  
The Fat Lady nodded as her portrait swung forward, revealing a hole which they all climbed through. Ron and Hermione were quickly followed by the first years; they gathered in the center of the common room.  
  
"This is the Gryffindor common room. You will be spending your free time here. This is also a place to read, study, and complete homework." Hermione told the small group of students.  
  
At this time Ron had to cough into his hands to stop her from hearing him laugh. Reading, studying, and doing homework -- Of course she'd mention those things, it was so Hermione-ish. Hermione raised her eyebrow at Ron, but continued without comment.  
  
"Let's see.. The bulletin board is over there; please check the board check the board regularly and read any notifications. I believe that's all for down here. Boys, your dormitories are up the stairs to your left. Girls, the same on your right. That's all for now, you will recieve your class schedules tomorrow morning at breakfast. Good night."  
  
The first years nervously dispersed to find their dormitories. Hermione looked after them fonly, her eyes shone brightly as memories of first year came flooding back to her. After a moment, however, she quit reminiscing and turned to Ron.  
  
"I'm quite tired, I think I'm going to go to bed." Hermione informed him.  
  
"What, no catching up on your homework? No knitting shapeless clothes for elves, no arguing with me...?" Ron joked, putting a surprised and slightly hurt look on his face.  
  
"Ron, you honestly are hopeless. Just because I want to help elves better their lives and discover their freedom and do well in school doesn't mean you have to be such an insolent prat." Hermione said narrowing her eyes and turning on her heel. In a moment, she was heading up the stairs to her dormitory.  
  
"So we're on for the last one! Great!" Ron called after her, grinning to himself. She was so cute when she was slightly ticked.  
  
Hermione walked into her dormitory. It's great to be back, Hermione thought as she sighed, looking around the familiar dormitory. She crossed the room to her trunk and pulled out her pajamas. As she changed, she thought of the upcoming school year, and, of course, of Ron. A smile crept upon her lips as she recalled the face he had donned when she told him she was retiring for the night. His bottom lip puffed out as he tried to look like she had made him feel badly. It was very evident, however, that he wasn't actually saddened; he wasn't very good at pretending when it came to emotions.  
  
Hermione had finished changing and she pulled back her covers before climbing into bed. She pulled up her covers high as it was a chilly night. She rolled over on her side and gripped her pillow tightly...  
  
Ron shook his head, laughing to himself as Hermione's robes whipped out of sight as she went to her dormitory. He looked around the common room, and, not seeing Harry, decided that he must be upstairs. So without further ado, he traipsed up the stairs to his dormitory. He quickly changed out of his robes (while trying to ignore Harry's sniggering; he was attacking Ron brutally for blushing so much on the train and suggested that if he had so much to fill up his face like that, he should donate some of it to someone) and laid down in his bed, pulling his curtains around his bed. Harry continued making fun of Ron, but luckily Ron didn't have to endure this very long as Harry had eaten quite a lot at the feast and fell asleep quickly. Sighing, Ron covered himself with his blanket and laid his head down on the pillow...  
  
((Hermione's POV)) Hermione woke up early the next morning but did not open her eyes. She had been having a very peaceful dream. After a few minutes, however, she decided she best get up. She yawned, her eyes still closed, yet ready to open as the sunlight that apparently was streaming into the room woke her up a bit more. She rolled over, yawning once more, but she stopped (along with her heart) as she knocked into something. A warm something. Hermione's eyes snapped open and she looked at the sleeping figure next to her. It was snoring and evidently in a very deep sleep. It took Hermione a moment to register what she saw before her, and then she bolted upright in bed, screaming.  
  
The figure which had been sleeping gave a jerk and sat up as well. They rubbed their eyes with their hands, yawned sleepily and turned to face Hermione. As they turned, Hermione's eyes widened. It was...  
  
"Ron?" Hermione breathed disbelievingly, rubbing her eyes frantically. When she opened them back up, it was still Ron there, grinning at her, yet in a confused fashion.  
  
"Morning, Love." Ron kissed Hermione's forhead as Hermione gaped. "Are you alright? Can I get you anything?"  
  
"Yeah," Hermione muttered. "How about a reality check."  
  
((Ron's POV)) Ron awoke in the early hours of the morning. The sun was very bright in his room and he could tell he had woken up just after its rise. Great, Ron thought, his eyes opened so little that he could barely see out of them; they were mere slits at the moment. However, he opened them wider and rubbed at them furiously, trying to wake himself up. He ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up and look wind blown as he sat up in his bed. As he did so, he continued on with his dismal thuoghts. Another day waking up early. I wish I would stop getting interrupted everytime I was dreaming about--  
  
"Hermione?!" Ron nearly yelled, his eyes now fully open. Hermione sat up in his bed, smiling tiredly.  
  
"G-g-good morning, da-dar-darling." Hermione struggled to get out while trying to supress a yawn. "Sleep well?"  
  
"Why the -- why -- what the bloody hell are you doing in my bed? It's against the rules, we'll get -- this is er -- this is -- this is not my dormitory." Ron said, his eyes opened in shock as he looked around.  
  
Hermione gave Ron a breathtaking smile and giggled. "You must have had some serious dreams if you awaken and can't remember your own wife."  
  
"Wife. Er, wife? You? Wife of mine? My wife I mean?" Ron gaped, flabbergasted.  
  
Hermione just nodded like Ron was the craziest person on the planet, including Lockhart.  
  
"Bloody hell." Ron squeaked.  
  
((Hermione's POV)) Hermione sat there for several moments, her face hidden in her hands, muttering words of nonbelief. Ron looked frightened and he leaned closer to look at her through her hands. Hermione backed off.  
  
"Woah, whatcha doin' there?" Hermione asked, bewildered.  
  
"Hermione, I think you had some seriously weird dreams. You do remember me, right?" Ron asked, a crooked smile playing upon his lips as he gently tilted her face towards his. "Maybe this will remind you."  
  
He planted a quick, soft kiss on Hermione's lips which, despite the length of it, left quite an impression.  
  
"Wow...." Was all Hermione could get out.  
  
"Still got the touch," Ron said arrogantly as he grinned.  
  
"Ron, was that the first time we -- what are you doing -- where are we?" Hermione had so many questions.  
  
"'Mione, I'd expect you not to act so freakish towards the father of your children." Ron said, scowling slightly. Then, he chuckled a bit. "Most definitely expect this reaction about your N.E.W.T.s, but..."  
  
"Father of my children?! N.E.W.T.s? Ron, you're mad. I don't know why we're in this room, I don't know why you look so much older, I don't know why you think we have children when that was the first time we had kissed and most importantly, our N.E.W.T.s aren't until the end of next year! I've only just started preparing so don't freak me out about that!" Hermione exclaimed, nearly working herself into hysterics.  
  
"Hermione, I think you're--" Ron began.  
  
But what Hermione was exactly she never found out, for at that moment, the air was punctured by a shrill scream. Hermione gasped and turned to the doorway, through which the noise had come. Then she heard footsteps, and a moment later, two small children ran into the room. Hermione gasped.  
  
"Mum! MUM! Sean is touching me AGAIN!" A young girl screamed as she darted into the room and scrambled into bed between Hermione and Ron.  
  
Before Hermione had much time to react, a boy ran into the room, grinning maliciously. However, he stopped as soon as he saw Ron and Hermione sitting there on the bed, the girl nestled in between them, giving the boy a stern look.  
  
"Mummy make Sean go away, he's terribly annoying and absolutely horrid in every way imaginable! Please, mummy! He won't stop touching me and poking me and--"  
  
The small girl screamed angrily as she turned and saw the boy mimicking her behind her back. From inside a cloak she was wearing she pulled out a very lifelike spider on a string and dangled it in front of the boy. Not only did the boy -- Sean, did the girl say? -- shriek and topple over, but when Ron saw the thing, he shrunk backward, cringing.  
  
"Get that thing away from me, Emily!" Ron ordered sternly.  
  
The girl turned to face Ron, her eyes widened with the look of someone who had just remembered something.  
  
"Oh daddy, I'm sorry! I forgot that you hate spiders. It's just that -- well, it's the only way to keep him away!" The girl who Ron had called Emily turned to her mother with pleading eyes. "You understand mummy, don't you? Daddy always bugged you, didn't you ever use spiders?"  
  
A smile pulled at Hermione's cheeks as she answered the girl nervously.  
  
"I understand perfectly, but I never used spiders." She looked at Ron. "I just had a steady use of good vocabulary."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron asked.  
  
"Ron, you have the emotional range of a teaspoon and about the same vocabulary. Nobody needed things like acromantulas to keep you off their back, they just had to say a word of which you knew nothing and leave you muddled in confusion." Hermione answered smoothly.  
  
The girl giggled and Ron scratched his head. He shrugged a moment later and addressed the kids, trying to act stern.  
  
"Now, you two have got to quit this right now! Emily Jane, you need to stop scaring your brother -- and me -- with your things. And Sean Ronald, stop annoying your sister. Now go get dressed, the Potters will be here soon and you'll finally get to meet them." He said, grinning now.  
  
The two children's scowls beacame smiles.  
  
"Yes daddy!" they said, traipsing out of the door. However, Hermione could hear them start bickering right away as they walked down the hallway.  
  
Wait a minute... Did Ron just say the Potters? As in Harry?  
  
((Ron's POV)) Fifteen minutes later, Hermione had dragged Ron out of bed and gotten him dressed. He was still gaping at the fact that he apparently had a wife. What the bloody hell did I do last night? Ron wondered.  
  
Hermione led him downstairs (they were living in a nice, two story house apparently in the heart of London. It was nicely sized and had a wonderful, comforting, homey feel to it. His wife sat him down at the table and brought him a glass of orange juice. She set it down and kissed him lightly on the lips. His reaction was something similar to the following: .....................................  
  
A few minutes later Ron's mind was slightly on Hermione still, but also on food (he couldn't help it, it smelled so delicious!). He didn't have to wait long before Hermione came over to him, setting down a plate. She made several trips back to him with various pans of food: bacon, egss, sausage, a small bowl of fruit consisting of ripe strawberries, bananas, grapes, and various melons, and a slice of toast. She also brought over some grape marmalade.  
  
"Now eat up," Hermione ordered. "The Potters will arrive shortly."  
  
Ron chocked on the toast he he had been cramming into his mouth hungrily. He swallowed hurriedly.  
  
"The Potters?! As in Harry?" He asked.  
  
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "And Ginny and Sam, of course."  
  
"GINNY?!" Ron said, after he had succeeded in spraying the entire table with orange juice.  
  
"Yes, Ronald." Hermione answered.  
  
"Ginny. As in my sister?! As in Harry married my sister? Ginny? When did this happen? I'll kill him! I mean I can't kill him but he can't -- he can't kiss my sister, that's gross!"  
  
Hermione sighed. "Honestly, Ron, I swear sometimes that Sean is more mature than you. You know very well that we've been waiting ages for this, don't goof around. You know how they had to go on that dreadfully long expedition, you know that we haven't seen them in years and years, and you know that the kids have only heard of their uncle in books, so stop ruining this and stop acting so dumb. They got married three months after we did, I would expect you do have accepted that, even been happy with it by now. And if the first thing out of your mouth when they get here is to badmouth their match together, I will scream so loudly that a Howler will sound like a friendly chat about the weather." Her eyes glowered menacingly.  
  
Ron gulped. "Yes, dear."  
  
Hermione's expression brightened and Ron, not wanting to upset her again, swallowed his questions, including the one inquiring as to who the bloody hell Sam was. Then, as he was tucking in to his eggs, his ears picked up the sound of someone coming down the stairs. Wait, no.. Someones... He could hear the patterns of two sets of feet at least. And he was right...  
  
"Good morning, Mummy!" A small girl called to Hermione. She was rather cheery and bouncy; her flaming red hair continued to sway as she stood still long enough to peck her mother on the cheek.  
  
"Mornin', mum." Another voice called.  
  
Ron's head turned again as another red haired person came down the stairs. However, this one was far from a morning person: He reminded Ron of himself. This boy was rubbing his eyes sleepily as he walked towards Hermione. He kissed her good morning and seated himself at the table before inhaling deeply.  
  
"Mmm.. Where's breakfast?" He said hungrily, looking slightly more awake at the thought of food. Ron smirked.  
  
Hermione fetched the other two children plates and glasses and worked on getting their breakfast. Ron noticed that while the boy had a ravenous appetite like himself, the girl's appetite was much more petite. More like Hermione's, actually. Then the girl did something that made Ron's jaw drop. She got out of her chair only a minute or so of eating, went upstairs, and came back a moment later with a large volume in her arms that she had evidently retrieved from her room. Ron dropped his fork when he looked at the title: Hogwarts, a History. The girl looked up at him and smiled.  
  
"Daddy, no matter how many times you tell me that I should be eating, I'm not going to change. Haven't you ever heard of multitasking? I need to finish this before I get on to the train, which doesn't leave me all that long, especially since I want to read up on some more spells. I've nearly memorized my textbooks, and mum says that will be enough, but I want to be prepared. So stop gawking, and finish your breakfast." The girl gave Hermione a small wink and Hermione beamed right back at her.  
  
"That's my girl." Hermione cooned.  
  
They finished their breakfasts and Hermione cleared everything away ("Evanesco.") Then she looked at the clock and her eyes widened.  
  
"Oh no! Children, go upstairs and smarten yourselves up! They'll be coming from floo powder in just a moment!" She ushered the boy and the girl upstairs.  
  
Five minutes later, the four were standing in front of the fireplace. Hermione kept reaching over to one of the other three and smoothing out their robes. Ron was just about to tease her about it when --  
  
Whoosh. A split second later, Ginny came out of the fireplace! She didn't stumble at all when she exited, merely shook her head and patted her robes to shake off any accumulated dust. She raised her head and looked at the four people standing in front of her.  
  
"HERMIONE! RON!" She squealed, nearly knocking them both over as she embraced them.  
  
Hermione was about to greet Ginny when, with another whoosh, a young boy toppled out of the fireplace, looking bewildered. He fell hard on his back and grimaced. Ginny immediately broke away from her brother and best friend and went to go help the little boy. She dusted him off best she could before she was interrupted when Harry arrived, grinning broadly.  
  
They all stood there for a moment before Ginny and Harry stepped forward and embraced Hermione and Ron like there was no tomorrow.  
  
"Harry," Ron gasped. "I can't breathe."  
  
"Oh, right." Said Harry, as he and Ginny stepped back.  
  
A moment later, they brought the young boy who had fallen from the fireplace forth, and had him stand between them.  
  
"Guys," Harry said. "I'd like you to introduce you to our son, Sam Jamison Potter."  
  
Ron couldn't help but stare at Harry and Sam. They looked just like Harry. He didn't really look anything like Ginny except for his smile. He was grinning (although very shyly), and the way he did it was just so.. Ginny! But everything else was Harry. Lily's eyes and James' stubborn hair. He even had the same kind of glasses as Harry. And of course, just as Harry had been when he arrived at Hogwarts, he was scrawny as hell. But Ron knew this couldn't have been the way they treated their son, for both Harry's and Ginny's eyes were full of love. He just guessed that Ginny's and Harry's genes combined to create one stick figure of a kid.  
  
((Hermione's POV)) Hermione just stood there, gaping. A moment ago, Harry, Ginny, and their son, Sam Jamison (it transpired that his full name was actually Samuel, but he hated that), had stepped into their fireplace. She stood there, smiling nervously, not knowing what to do. She had acted like that all morning, actually. Ron had to practically shove her around the house. They had eaten cereal for breakfast (as Hermione suspected, since she doubted that Ron, no matter how old, would not bother to learn to cook, even with magic's aid) and she sat there quietly as the children bickered some more before going to brush their teeth and get ready. Now, a few minutes later, she was looking at Harry and Ginny, all grown up! Harry looked the same as ever, although he had broader shoulders and he seemed to be more muscular overall. Ginny had the same twinkle in her eyes as always, the same shriek, the same everything, but her childish appearance had grown out eventually into nice, womanly curves. She was absolutely gorgeous, and Harry looked wonderful. She couldn't move, just look at them. After a moment, however, Ron gave a small cough, and began to introduce their two children.  
  
"Harry, Ginny, we'd like you to meet our children. This is Emily Jane Weasley," Ron said, indicating the young girl who was standing politely and attentively, "and this is Sean Ronald Weasley," He said, nudging the boy back into attention, as he had been gazing around the room with a bored expression on his face."  
  
"Oh, twins!" Ginny said, shaking the children's hands in turned. Harry followed suit, smiling at the kids.  
  
"Oh, Hermione, they're just gorgeous! They look just like Ron! Except they don't have his nose. Nope, they've your little petite one. And this one," Ginny said, patting Emily's head fondly, "She looks just like me! It's like gazing into the past!" Ginny laughed and leaned down to the girl's level. "You're going to grow up to be a pretty one." Ginny winked and Emily giggled.  
  
The three children came together and introduced themselves more thoroughly.  
  
"I'm Emily Jane Weasley," Emily stated promptly. "I'm only just about to turn eleven in a few days, I'm ever so lucky that I wasn't born after September 1st as opposed to just before then, otherwise I'd have to wait another year before starting at Hogwarts! And I'd be ever so disappointed to miss starting by just a few days, I do really love to learn. Of course, I can't wait until school starts. I know I'll miss my family terribly but I've only been able to read about school so far, in my book, Hogwarts, A History. It's over there, if you'd like to read a bit of it." she gestured to the large volume still resting upon the table. Then she continued without waiting for Sam to respond. "I suppose you've read all your textbooks as well? I've nearly memorized mine, but I'm still scared to peices. I hope it will be enough, you know, and coming from a wizarding family I don't think I shall be too far behind, but there shall be so much to learn, I'm sure, that not even I will have much of a head start." Her smile faltered at this point, and she stopped speaking for a moment, which gave everyone time to let this new information in.  
  
"Good God, Hermione," said Harry. "What did you give this poor child to make her so like you?"  
  
Emily looked at Harry questioningly. Then she started up agian.  
  
"Of course, I've read all about your father, Samuel. I've read him in at least ten books, but it will be ever so nice to speak with him in person. I only just found out not too long ago that we were related! Can you imagine that! Anyway, I suppose you'll be able to tell me all about him yourself, won't you? I mean, being his son and all."  
  
"Err..." Sam spoke up for the first time. "I don't really know much, just that--"  
  
"Oh, you don't?" Emily asked, taken aback. "But you're his son! I'd have found out everything I could, if I were you..."  
  
The adults smiled down at the three children as they started to converse. The talk turned to Quidditch, a sport in which Sam and Sean were both very interested in. Sean in particular was very enthusiastic, which was a nice change since he had not spoken up much before then. Emily rolled her eyes and whispered politely to her parents.  
  
"Mummy, daddy, may I go read? You know I'm not interested in Quidditch." She pleaded.  
  
"Alright, but don't get your nose too far into that book, or we'll never be able to pull you out." He said with a smile.  
  
"Thanks, daddy!" Emily said. Before she left, she turned to Sam. "You've got dirt on your nose, did you know? Just there."  
  
((Ron's POV)) Oh. My. God. I've produced a monster, Ron thought as Emily bounced happily away. No.. No, I've just produced a Hermione. Poor kid...  
  
Over the next little while that they chatted, Ron learned a lot. He remembered his children's names, learned where Harry and Ginny had been the past several years, and so many other things (that they apprently just had to catch up on - Ron tried to keep in the conversation but as he had just been sitting with Harry at the feast in his sixth year, he hadn't wondered about this stuff at all) that his brain rattled. As he pondered what the boiling point of brain was, he concentrated on Hermione. God, she was beautiful. He couldn't believe that he had married her! Finally, one thing had gone right in his life. And the way she looked at those children... They were her world, he could see it in her eyes. He was surprised at how well he was suddenly able to read Hermione. He had been beginning to be able to read her eyes, her emotions, her thoughts and desires back at Hogwarts... And then suddenly here he was! He must've had too much to drink, because he couldn't remember all those years in between, but hopefully it'd all come back to him soon, because he wanted to know how in bloody hell he got twins with Hermione. Well, he knew how it was done, he wasn't that incredibly stupid, but...  
  
"Ron... Ron? Ron!" Hermione shouted.  
  
"Huh?" He jerked back to life.  
  
"Will you please go and tend to Sam and Sean? I can hear them groaning upstairs. I just know that Sean's gotten in to the chocolate frogs again..." She said irritatedly.  
  
"How d'ya--" Ron started out, confused.  
  
"Because he doesn't have one bit of me in him and I couldn't count the number of times you got sick from those darned things..." Hermione said. "Now will you please go?"  
  
"Yeah... Yeah, sure."  
  
As Ron walked upstairs, his head ached with everything he had just experienced. With all he had seen. Those kids were wonderful, they were... They were bound to be trouble makers, they were Weasley twins after all. Ron wondered how like Fred and George they'd be; he bet that the twins spoiled his twins. Emily was just like Hermione, which was wonderful as Ron loved every bit of Hermione, and of course, he admitted, he loved every bit of himself, which was really narcissistic of him, but he was only thinking it because Sean was an exact copy of himself. He reached Sean's bright orange room and realized that he and Sean were even more alike than he had thought. There were chocolate frog card wrappers everywhere! You could barely see the floor! Ron walked over to Sean and Sam before spotting a card on the ground and looking at it curiously before swiping it up.  
  
"YES! You got Ptolemy! I could never find this bugger!"  
  
((Hermione's POV)) Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry sat at a table for a long time, eating snacks and drinking butter beer like old times, discussing so many things that Hermione's brain seemed to swell, which was quite impressive indeed considering that this was Hermione, and she often read several books in a day (how that was possible, none of her friends could ever quite fathom). She thought about everything that had recently happened until...  
  
"Hermione...Oy, 'Mione -- Mione!" Ron's voice called.  
  
"Huh?" Hermione asked, dazed.  
  
"Would you go check on Emily? I just know that she's fallen asleep reading again." Ron said with a smirk.  
  
"Sure..." She said mistily, rising from her chair and heading up the stairs.  
  
As she did so, she thought of her children. Her children! she repeated in her head, she loved the sound of that! And they were so beautiful. They were just like... They were just like them. They were the perfect impressions of Ron and Hermione.  
  
She had reached Emily's room and sure enough, the little girl was there doing what Hermione did countless nights in her childhood: She was there at her desk in the tidiest room Hermione had ever seen, with her lamp on and her booked open. Hermione laughed to herself as she saw that Emily was using Hogwarts, A History as a pillow. She approached the girl and gently woke her up.  
  
"Mum?" Emily asked groggily. Hermione smiled. She liked the sound of that.  
  
"Yes, honey. I'm here. But it's late and you need to get into bed." Hermione said soothingly.  
  
A few minutes later, Emily was snug in her bed and nearly asleep. Hermione turned off her light and then came back a moment later.  
  
"Sweet dreams, Emily." Hermione said, kissing Emily's forehead.  
  
"Sweet dreams, mummy." Was Emily's sleepy reply.  
  
Hermione walked to the door.  
  
"And mum?" Emily stopped Hermione with a yawn.  
  
"Yes?" Hermione replied.  
  
"I love you." Emily sighed softly.  
  
A small bit later, Harry, Ginny, and Sam were standing by the fireplace. Sam looked like he'd like nothing better than to sleep, which is what Sam and Sean had been doing. Well, more like passed out, after eating so many chocolate frogs. They said their goodbyes to each other and Harry and Ginny promised that they would all stop by the next day. Then, with a last few hugs, they all stepped into the Weasley's fireplace one by one and disappeared.  
  
"Let's go to bed, Love." Ron said, kissing Hermione. Her knees shoke but she tried to not let him notice. After all, they had been married for eleven years.  
  
"Okay." She whispered and let him lead her upstairs.  
  
Their room was quiet and cool and Ron shut the windows before climbing into bed with Hermione. He kissed her again as they laid down on the bed. They fell asleep shortly after, with Hermione's arms contentedly around her husband's. She sighed. Her husband's... She liked the sound of that, too.  
  
((Ron's POV)) After Harry, Ginny, and Sam had left, Hermione yawned and suggested they get to bed. Ron gladly followed, glad it was dark because even at the slight touch of her as she grabbed his hand and led him upstairs, he knew he had began to blush. They went into their room and closed their door quietly. They got into the bed and laid under the covers. Hermione was curled up snugly, right next to Ron. He had an extremely large grin on his face as her body molded against his; they must have laid like this every night. Ron couldn't wait for him to get over his ... drunkeness or amnesia bout, or whatever this was. He loved this and never wanted it to end. He loved her. And he shakily told her so. She laughed and snuggled up a bit closer.  
  
"I love you, Ronald Weasley. And I always will." She whispered, and he felt all warm and tingly inside as she turned over to face him and kissed him deeply on the lips.  
  
He loved his wife. He sighed. Yes, it finally had happened. Hermione Granger was his wife. His lawfully wedded wife, and she loved him and always would. He was glowing so much, he could have been a lightbulb. They fell into a slumber with their lips gently touching and Ron saying over and over again in his mind She's my wife and she loves me. He liked that thought very much.  
  
((Hermione's POV)) Hermione's eyes opened the next day. Wait... No, it wasn't the next day! Oh my goodness! She nearly screamed as she sat up in her four poster bed. The curtains around her bed opened and she gasped. Lavender was standing by her bed with a concerned expression on her face.  
  
"Hermione, are you alright? I heard you talking in your sleep, I think. What were you doing?" She asked.  
  
"Oh, just.. fraternizing with a friend." Hermione answered.  
  
Lavender left her, mumbling something about going back to bed.  
  
Hermione mumbled under her breath, "And then some."  
  
Hermione had to get out of that dormitory and think about this. Why was she thinking about him so much? He was supposed to be her best friend, that was it. She sighed, angry with herself, as she put on her pink dressing gown and headed downstairs.  
  
((Ron's POV)) Ron moaned angrily as he heard giggles. He supposed it was the next day, and he guessed that it was the twins who were already up. But then he opened his eyes to give Hermione a kiss -- And met a pillow.  
  
The giggles increased dramatically at this point. Ron sat up in bed. Oh no! He was in his dormitory! Damnit, not another dream!  
  
"I see what Ginny and the twins meant when they were talking about your pillow snogging habit." Harry wrinkled his nose, looking very much like Ginny. "It's gross."  
  
The Gryffindor boys continued to laugh at this point and Ron threw his slightly drooled on pillow at them. He told them to bugger off as he grabbed his dressing robe and headed down to the common room. As he stomped down the stairs, not particuarly caring who he disturbed, he cursed himself. It was another dream, Ron. Another dream about her that's never going to become true. Fan. Bloody. Tastic.  
  
Ron and Hermione, both looking down at their feet, still mentally kicking themselves, did not see each other across the room. They knew the common room so well that even in the dark, and without looking up, they could find their way around it. They both headed to the same love seat and plopped down... They both were emmersed in their own thoughts until...  
  
They both stretched at the same time, and opened their mouths wide, yawning, then, they both happened to look towards where the other was seated at the same time, and their yawns turned into a shriek from Hermione and a "Bloody hell!" from Ron.


	6. You're a Pal and a Confidante

((A/N: I know, I know, I KNOW! It's been forever AGAIN. I'm slipping back into my old habit. I'm so sorry you guys, and it seriously will not happen again. I don't care if I don't sleep during the school year, you will have a new chapter each week. Except that I will post chapter seven sooner than a week, hopefully. I know it'd take a few hours to reply to all the reviews, so I will get back to you guys, just not this chapter, since you probably want to read on. Or kill me for not updating. Your choice! Anyhow, if you have any suggestions, comments, questions, whatever, just e-mail me at I check it nearly every day, so there is no way that I will overlook your e-mail! Just give the e-mail a title relating to this fan fic so I'll know to read it straightaway. I'll stop babbling now and let you get on with it. Thanks!))

Chapter Six  
  
You're A Pal And A Confidante  
  
"Ron?!" Hermione nearly screamed, now clutching her heart, apparently trying to slow down her breathing.  
  
"Hermione?!" Ron gasped, also taking large gulps of air to return his heart rate back to normal.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Ron replied, not wanting to admit the truth.  
  
"I asked you first." Hermione reminded Ron.  
  
"I asked _you _first." Ron said a second later. He tried to rack his brain, but nothing came to mind, so he settled on repeating her words.  
  
"Ron, you are such an immature simpleton that I cannot believe I am still acquaintances with you, much lest best friends."  
  
They sat there for a time, Ron scratching his head as he figured this out. Hermione sighed.  
  
"So what were you doing?" Hermione asked, interrupting Ron's thoughts.  
  
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Er... homework." Ron answered in what he hoped was an offhand tone.  
  
"Oh." Hermione commented. "Likewise."  
  
"Yeah..." Ron said, drifting back to his thoughts.  
  
"Well, I'm done now. With my homework, I mean." Hermione said, rising.  
  
"Alright. Goodnight, 'Mione." Ron answered, looking up at her and giving her that crooked smile.  
  
"Night." She said, hoping that Ron didn't notice the way her voice shook slightly nervously.  
  
As Hermione left to go back to her dormitory and Ron leaned back into the couch, they both heaved an enormous sigh of relief. Ron did not mention that although Hermione was likely to read ahead, they had no homework yet, and even if they had, she had come down for only a few minutes with no book. Hermione, following Ron's suit, did not comment on the fact that they had no homework yet, and even if they did, Ron would not be caught dead doing it on time, much less ahead of time.  
  
Ron smiled to himself as Hermione disappeared up the girls' staircase. He had fooled her at last.  
  
"And they say I'm slow..." He chuckled to himself. Then he bolted upright. "Wait a minute!" Ron said quietly, his eyes widening. "That was an insult!"  
  
The following morning Ron and Hermione were both down in the common room very early. They didn't look very rested at all; in truth, after Hermione went up to her dormitory (Ron also went up to his about a half an hour later, when he was sure that the rest of his roommates would have fallen asleep again), neither of them went back to sleep. They were both quite caught up in thought about their dreams and then, immediately after, finding each other in the common room. They couldn't help but wonder what the other was doing there. They weren't going to press each other about it, but it made them ponder about what the night's events could have meant.  
  
Ron and Hermione were sitting in the common room, in the armchairs next to the fireplace. Hermione looked to be immersed in a large volume (_Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6_ - she said that she needed to brush up on her incantations, though everyone knew full and well that she was the person who needed the least brushing up of all. In fact, she could probably do with a bit of dusting up, you know, as in not studying, but she'd never quit it). However, Ron frequently sneaked looks at her out of the corner of his eye. He noted that her eyes were not moving across the page but rather were staring hard in front of her. She wasn't reading, but she was certainly concentrating on something...  
  
Just then, Ron was forcefully brought back to reality when something hit the back of his head. Harry sat down a moment later, smiling. He had his hand over his mouth and he appeared to be attempting to muffle his laughter as his eyes darted from Ron to Hermione.  
  
"Prat." Ron said, giving Harry a glowering look.  
  
"Oh, good morning, Harry," Hermione said, looking up from her book. "Are you hungry? Want a bit of breakfast?"  
  
"Sure," Harry shrugged.  
  
They walked out of the portrait and started down the stairs towards the Great Hall, Harry leading the way. Hermione and Ron were quiet most of the way, until...  
  
"Well, well, well." Drawled a voice coming from the left as they approached the bottom of the stairs.  
  
The trio immediately turned their heads sharply to face Malfoy. He was smirking at them, an evil glint in his eyes. Crabbe and Goyle followed behind him, as always, looking like bodyguards.  
  
"Ugh, what a delightfully disgusting sight. Potty, Weasel, and the ever sickening Mudblood. Haven't you done everyone the favor and thrown yourself off bridges yet?" Malfoy droned. "You know, though, you three could make one pathetic triple threat. First vomit at the sight of the Mudblood, and then the Weasel makes--"  
  
"Shut up, Malfoy." Harry cut in tensely. "Bugger off today, I really don't need your shi--"  
  
"Look!" Ron said, pointing his arm upwards and waving it wildly, somewhere to Malfoy's left. "A diversion!"  
  
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle all looked up to where Ron was pointing. However, a second later, Malfoy registered what Ron had said and flushed at the thought that he had actually looked. He turned to reply nastily to Ron's little joke, but looked to find that they were entering the Great Hall, chuckling heartily. He turned back to his cronies and slapped them on the back of the head, for they were still caught up in searching for where the diversion was.  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione sauntered over to the Gryffindor table and seated themselves. Harry sat on one side of the table, Ron and Hermione on the other. Ron noted that the post hadn't arrived yet as he looked up at the ceiling of the Great Hall. Today it was raining harder than the day before. The sky was heavily overcast and as he looked up, he recieved a shock; several bolts of lightning were reigning down upon the earth below. Ron sighed; his stomach was slightly uncomfortable and he felt an odd foreboding within him. About what, he did not know, but he could not shake the feeling that today was not going to go properly.  
  
Hermione picked up the pitcher of pumpkin juice and poured herself a glass. Her eyes wandered over the table idly as she chose what to eat for breakfast. She selected a few pieces of bacon and chewed them slowly.  
  
A few moments later the post arrived. A tawny owl swooped down low, narrowly avoiding a large platter of kippers nearby, and skidded to a half in front of Hermione. She laily took the paper from the owl and deposited a bronze knut in a brown satchel. The owl flew away and Hermione spread the paper across the table in front of her, as was customary each morning for the past couple years.  
  
As Hermione was just getting ready to read the morning post, she got a sharp pain in between her neck and her right shoulder. She gasped and rubbed the spot quickly to ease the pain. The pain lessened but still annoyed her somewhat. Hermione stretched and then lifted her hand to her mouth as she yawned widely. _I've got to try to stop thinking about him and concentrate on gettng more sleep. I know I'll have plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead but this is getting ridiculous. I must have gotten two hour's sleep last night at best...  
_  
Hermione yawned again, just a small one this time, and realized that she hadn't eaten much. Her eyes scanned the table once more and she reached for a piece of toast.  
  
However, just as Hermione reached for a piece of toast, Ron's eyes lingered on the same piece and his hand lurched hungrily forward. At the same moment their hands closed over the bread, and, more importantly, each other's hand. Hermione gasped and Ron's jaw dropped. They sat there for a moment before either spoke.  
  
"Sorry!" Ron said.  
  
"Oh, no, you have it." Hermione replied, about to retract her hand.  
  
"Er, nope, don't want it, here--" Ron urged.  
  
Ron tried to push the toast further into Hermione's grasp but moaned as his elbow knocked into the salt shaker. The salt shaker tipped over and, as it fell, the lid toppled off. As the shaker hit the table, salt spilled everywhere, including Ron's lap.  
  
Hermione gasped again and moved her hand down to Ron's leg to try sweep off some of the salt crystals, and Ron blushed so quickly that he was sure it was a world record.  
  
_She's touching me. She's touching me. Her hand is on my leg. That. Means. That. She. Is. Touching. Me. Oh my God. Her. Her. Her-- Hermione's touching me._ Ron thought frantically.  
  
Have you ever been extremely happy but extremely nervous and jumpy? Ron became like this to such an extremity that his arm gave an enormous spasm and bumped into... what else? Nothing other than Hermione's nearly full glass of pumpkin juice.  
  
Ron mouthed wordlessly as what happened next seemed to occur in slow motion. Ron's attention jerked from Hermione's hand to the glass he had just collided with. His eyes widened and he gulped as he seemed to watch helplessly. Her cup rocked back and forth briefly, before making up its mind - for the worse, of course. The cup gleamed in the light given off by the floating candles as it decided which way to tip -- Obviously toward Hermione; it was just Ron's luck. He shook his head as he watched the glass get nearer and nearer to tipping completely over. At this time, Hermione lifted her hand off of Ron's pant leg and looked over towards the table. As she did so, things seemed to speed up and the glass proceeded in crashing on to the table. The cup hit the table with force and the liquid inside spurred out of the cup. It stained the formerly clean tablecloth horribly in an instant, but it did not stop there. When the cup had hit the table cloth the pumpkin juice had been propelled forward... directly on to Hermione's shirt.  
  
Hermione shrieked as the chilled juice splattered all over the front of her shirt. Ron gave a small squeak as he flinched. He looked over at Hermione and seemed to gain control of his reflexes.  
  
"Oh, Hermione, sorry!" He said hoarsely.  
  
Hermione merely gaped at what had just happened before raising her hands to her shirt where it was stained and began waving her hands to try to dry off the cloth. Ron stuttered for a few moments before grabbing a napkin and, trying his best to help, turned the still shocked Hermione to face him. Bending his head down slightly, he bit his lip as he dabbed quickly at the fabric, trying to get a bit of the pumpkin juice out. However, he continued slower and slower as he came to a realization...  
  
He realized several things in quick succession. First, his face was awfully close to Hermione's shirt. Second, the juice was on a part of her shirt that was pretty high up in a ... Well, let's say an area of ... a more sensitive nature. And third, Hermione was wearing a white blouse. Quite a bit of pumpkin juice had spilled onto this blouse and it just so happens that white clothing adapts a certain quality when it becomes wet.  
  
Hermione seemed to notice this fact at the same time as Ron and, shocked, she leaned so far away from him that she almost fell backwards to the floor. Once she regained her balance, she searched around, her eyes wide. Her gaze fell upon her Daily Prophet and she snatched it up. She held the newspaper to her shirt as she scrambled to stand up. She grabbed her bag and turned to Harry and Ron.  
  
"Er ... Got to go!" She said raspily, shaking.  
  
Hermione started to run towards the door and as she did so, passed Professor McGonagall, who looked at her with a confused expression on her face.  
  
"Miss Granger, what are you--"  
  
"Sorry, got to go, professor!" Hermione said breathlessly, grabbing her schedule out of McGonagall's grasp.  
  
A few students laughed as Hermione exited the Great Hall, almost slipping several times. However, Ron said nothing; he merely looked down at his plate as he turned a severely bright shade of red. He heard a noise nearby and looked up; Harry was fighting the urge to laugh like mad and was failing more with each passing moment.  
  
"Oh, sod off, Harry!" Ron shot Harry the dirtiest look he could muster.  
  
Harry grinned and was about to reply when Professor McGonagall walked by; interrupting their conversation, she handed them their schedules. Harry glanced at his schedule and sighed.  
  
"We've got Transfiguration first off." He announced. "Still, not the worst class to have to start off with..."  
  
Ron shrugged, not much caring for talking at the moment. He slipped his schedule into his bag without looking at it more than a few seconds. Harry followed suit.  
  
"I suppose we'd better get going to class, we don't want to be late our very first day. After all, we have been going to her same classroom for five years. We should be able to manage, despite the 182 staircases, trick doors, and Peeves..."  
  
Hermione ran out of the Great Hall as quickly as she could. She got a stitch in her side (she wasn't much used to running at all) but continued on nonetheless. Up the staircase directly outside the Great Hall, around the corner, up another staircase (where she painfully tripped) and all along the corridor until she reached the Prefect's Bathroom.  
  
"Wintergreen," Hermione whispered to the door as she stopped quickly in front of the door she needed. The door opened and she stepped inside. She walked across the gleaming marble floor and stopped in front of a large mirror that hung on the wall. Here she bent down and grasped her knees as she tried to catch her breath. When she had succeeded, she stood upright and brushed some fallen strands of hair away from her face. Her face, which had been tinged a delicate pink, was returning back to its normal color.  
  
Hermione bit her lip as she examined her shirt. First day of term and Ron sees your bra. Bloody brilliant, Hermione. She sighed, and then laughed as she realized that she had picked up saying 'bloody' from Ron. She really did have to stop clinging on to every word he spoke; she was starting to store his vocabulary. She shook her head slightly to get Ron out of her head for the umpteenth time and concentrated at the task at hand. She pointed her wand to herself and muttered and incantation. Her shirt was restored immediately. Hermione had learned this spell this past summer when she read about it in yet another book. She would have never bothered with it before, but the fact that she was completely head over heels for Ron had instilled a bit of vanity in her. Well, a lot of vanity.  
  
A few minutes later Hermione stepped out of the Prefect's Bathroom. She had regained her composure; she had disposed of her newspaper, brushed her hair and she was walking coolly as opposed to running with vigor. She noticed with a start that breakfast was nearly over and decided to head towards her first class, Transfiguration.  
  
When she reached the classroom she was surprised to see that, with only a few minutes left until class began, the room was not filled; in fact, it was only about half full. Then Hermione realized that as sixth year students, they were no longer required to take all their usual standard courses, rather couses that would be required for their future career. Although Transfiguration was required for many occupations, there were still some that would not put this subject into use. Therefore, the class size was bound to be smaller. Looking across the room, Hermione spotted three spare seats next to each other, three rows from the front. She walked over to the chair furthest to the left and sat down. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out some parchment, a quill, and some ink. She took out her charms book to do some more reading (as she hadn't read any of the book for several days; earlier in the common room she couldn't concentrate on her reading, because her thoughts kept drifting back to her most recent dream). However, she had only a minute or so to read, for then she was interrupted by the entrance of Harry and Ron.  
  
Harry and Ron walked in with two minutes to spare before class was due to start. Harry looked about the room but didn't have to search far; there was Hermione, sitting three rows back from the front, supplies out and her nose in a book, as usual. He walked over to her and Ron, taking a large gulp of air (he had suddenly noticed that as soon as he had walked into the classroom (he had spotted Hermione right away, whereas it took Harry a moment to see her, so he was looking at her for a few seconds), he had been holding his breath. Lately he had noticed that he was quite prone to forgetting to breathe around Hermione. He willed his legs to move (they seemed to all of a sudden attain the qualities of jelly) and he neared Hermione with a few shaky steps. Harry sat two seats down to the right of Hermione, leaving one seat open. He looked up at Ron as he approached him (for he had been a few steps behind Harry in reaching their seats) with an innocent grin, which Ron knew was concealing wicked thoughts. Ron gave Harry the most furious face he could manage while still being able to hide the look from Hermione. Harry raised an eyebrow and pointed to the vacant seat, still grinning. Ron pulled out the chair and sat down, eyes still boring into Harry's, hating him.  
  
At that moment, however, Ron was forced to look forward as opposed to sideways at Harry when their instructor, Professor McGonagall, strode into the classroom. As she shut the door, the little talking that had been going on ceased immediately. Professor McGonagall was not mean, but strict, and she had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort.  
  
"Good morning, class." Professor McGonagall greeted her pupils.  
  
"Good morning, Professor McGonagall." Students' voices rang out in reply.  
  
"You have all entered this class this year after recieving an E or better on your O.W.L.s at the end of last term. You are taking this course because your future careers will require you knowing Transfiguration; how well you perform in these careers will reflect your aptitude for this subject. So, I expect to see you all studying hard this year. I will not accept late homework or excuses of any sort. You are to be on time every day you have this class. Should you fail to meet these requirements, there will be serious consequences." McGonagall explained; her eyes flashed at the end of this little speech and Ron gulped.  
  
McGonagall had them take down a series of complicated notes before setting them to work on their newest challenge: To turn a piglet into a piggy bank. The trio didn't talk much as McGonagall swept around the classroom critiquing the students' work and answering questions; this spell was difficult enough without the distraction of conversation.  
  
Hermione was quite obviously the first person to succeed, she had gotten the spell down in the first five minutes of practicing. McGonagall flashed her a quick smile, awarded Gryffindor ten points, and moved on to Seamus, whose spell had gone awry. His piglet had taken on the shape of an armadillo and smoke was emitting from it, and no one could seem to figure out how he had transfigured his piglet into this.  
  
Ron was becoming more and more frustrated by the moment. He couldn't understand why his piglet wasn't changing; at the moment, it was yawning, apparently bored. As it plopped on to the desk and lowered its eyelids, Ron attempted to force himself to do the spell correctly. All he could manage to think about was how brilliant Hermione was. Everyone knew this of course, but he marveled in that thought constantly. She had beauty, brains... He had... Erm... He had... Not her.  
  
Ron's self esteem dropped even lower as he realized that he had nothing to offer Hermione. He could never go on a date with her, she's probably want to study or do homework.  
  
As he pondered these depressing thoughts, he waved his wand around lazily. He sighed and turned half his concentration to the spell he was supposed to be working on. He muttered the incantation...  
  
His wand movement was off a bit and his words were slurred. And in the next few moments, Ron sympathized with Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest -- he had only mixed up a few letters and his spell was seriously screwed up.  
  
There was a flash of violet light and a pop! as his piglet hardened into porcelain... Well, almost. See, the spell sort of worked, but there was no slot in the back and the tail continued to whip around wildly. The the half piglet, half piggy bank's legs started up, but not before a retching sound was heard, followed by a long steady stream of coins spurred out of the thing's mouth. It was a continuous stream, as the mouth had hardened in an open position. The deformed creature ran all across the desks, spewing coins, which turned out to be not even real money, but scraps of rounded metal. Ron couldn't get a break! And worse still, before McGonagall could aprehend Ron's spell gone awry, a series of coins hit Hermione painfully in the forehead, causing her to shriek.  
  
Of course, Ron didn't see this. He had to be filled in later, because as soon as the mutation had happened, he had buried his head in his hands and waited until the havoc ceased, which proved to be awhile as the students were rather riled up after the incident. Harry gleefully told Ron everything that had happened as they walked out to break. It was almost over but Harry managed to get in all the "good details" before they had to go to their next lesson. Ron turned a steady shade of crimson as he learned that in addition to humiliating himself in front of everyone (most importantly Hermione) and getting loads of extra homework from McGonagall, Hermione had gone to the Hospital Wing in the last few minutes of class. Her forehead had been bruised and she had a small headache. Although it was a miniscule injury, this new information made Ron feel ten times worse than when he got all that extra work.  
  
Dinner that night was a quiet affair. Ron ate his steak and kidney pie without comment and Hermione hardly ate at all; she used this time instead to read Hogwarts, A History for the umpteenth time. She had expected Ron to make a remark about her reading it again; after all, she had nearly memorized it by now so often it was that she read it. However, she followed suit in his silence. Hermione had gone to the Hospital Wing early that day and she now looked fine, but every now and then the spot on her forehead where she had been bombarded with coins twinged. She supposed it was phantom pain, however. She had been dwelling over that morning's events.  
  
The trio finished their dinner quickly (at least Hermione and Ron did; Harry complained that he hadn't finished with his pie while Ron dragged him out of the Great Hall). They trudged up to their common room again without much conversation, although Harry did try to start up a conversation about patio furniture. They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Harry gave the password, and they entered the common room, which was nearly empty. The trio made their way over to the best squashy arm chairs by the fire and three thuds were heard and they all plopped down into them. They chatted quietly for a few minutes before Harry voiced that he wanted to go to bed; however he backed down after a fierce glare from Hermione.  
  
"Alright, alright, I'll get on it." Harry mumbled.  
  
They spent the next half an hour in silence, save for the sound of crumpling parchment, turning pages, and scribbling quills. Then, as Ron let out an aggravated sigh, he looked up and saw Hermione sitting in the chair across from him and he was automatically entranced.  
  
The scene wasn't anything special, yet it was marvelous to him. Her chin was tilted downwards, resting on her chest ever so slightly. A bit of her hair shielded her face partially, but he could still see her through the strands. Her breathing was light and even and she was ... laughing? No, that wasn't right. But he heard someone snickering. Ron cast around the room, looking for the source of the disturbance. His eyes landed on Harry.  
  
"Shut up, Harry." Ron warned him.  
  
"What do you mean, shut up? I wasn't saying anything." Harry replied.  
  
"But you were thinking--" Ron started.  
  
"Oh, you know what I'm thinking, do you?" Harry asked with a smirk. "I never knew you to be a skilled Legitimens, Ron."  
  
"You know what I mean!" Ron said angrily.  
  
"Nope, sorry mate, I'm afraid I don't. Care to elaborate?" Harry asked innocently.  
  
Their conversation must have been a bit too loud, because a moment later they heard a curious voice.  
  
"What are you two talking about?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Hermione, you're awake! I mean we were just saying ... talking about ... say, er, Harry, I'm beat. How about you?" Ron said with a very unconvincing yawn.  
  
"Actually, Ron, it's only nine o'clock, and I'm really not -- OW!" Harry yelled the last word as Ron's foot collided with Harry's shin. Several people stared. "I mean yes, Ron, I'm oh so tired. I should head to bed. would you care to accompany me?" Harry said in a dull voice.  
  
"Oh, how thoughtful of you to ask. Yes, I believe I will, don't want you to get lost." Ron said, smiling nervously as he looked at Hermione out of the corner of his eye.  
  
They gathered their things, Ron looking much more in a hurry than Harry. Once they had finished, Harry turned to say good night to Hermione, but he only managed to get out "Goo--" before Ron grabbed him by the neck of his robes and started dragging him up the steps toward their dormitory.  
  
"Need a full eight hours of rest!" Ron shouted over his shoulder as he climbed the steps.  
  
Ron maintained his steady hold on Harry all the way up to their dormitory. When he let go, Harry started right in.  
  
"Ron! What the --" He began.  
  
"Harry, I need to talk to you." Ron interrupted. He looked really serious, so Harry let his anger go and nodded for Ron to continue. "This is really big. You need to sit down."  
  
"Er... Okay..." Harry replied, confused. He sat down on his bed and Ron sat on his.  
  
"Um, okay, this is really big. And really... mind blowing, and hard to explain, and --" Ron started, taking large breaths of air.  
  
"Ron? Get on with it." Harry urged.  
  
"Huh? Oh, right. Okay... um... I like Hermione."  
  
A long silence followed these words, as both boys were waiting. Ron was waiting for Harry's reply; Harry was waiting for Ron to continue.  
  
"And?" Harry asked Ron.  
  
"And I like Hermione." Ron replied.  
  
"... And?" Harry was getting more and more confused.  
  
"And I really like her!" Ron was becoming frustrated.  
  
"Well duh. But what else? I thought this was serious." Harry said.  
  
"What?! This is big news! It is serious!" Ron burst out, waving his arms wildly. "Big! Huge! Er, mountainous, gigantic, humongous, and all those other big words!"  
  
"Sorry to rain on your freakout parade, Ron, but this isn't news. Not new news, anyhow." Harry told Ron, shaking his head.  
  
"You... you knew?" Ron asked, utterly bewildered.  
  
"My God, you're thick. Of course we know." Harry rolled his eyes. How could his friend be this oblivious?  
  
"We? We?? WE??? Hold it, more people know? Who told you? Who did you tell?" Ron was in a state or raging awe.  
  
"Ron, no one tole me and I didn't tell anyone. No one has to be btold. It is so painfully obvious." Harry explained.  
  
They sat in silence for a time. then Ron voiced his newest worry.  
  
"Does Hermione know?" He asked weakly.  
  
"She's brilliant at school but seeing how blind she is to the fact that you like her... you'd think she had a negative IQ." Harry related, shaking his head.  
  
Ron sighed heavily. "What'll I do?"  
  
Harry shrugged. "Donno. Tell her."  
  
"I couldn't do that!" Ron moaned. "How do you tell someone that you love them? Just waltz over and --"  
  
"Woah." Harry said. "You LOVE her?"  
  
"Well... yeah." Ron said. He had assumed this should have been evident to Harry, since he had said Ron's affections were painfully obvious.  
  
"We're sixteen!" Harry said.  
  
"Sixteen years, six months, and one day." Ron corrected him.  
  
"We're too young to love." Harry replied.  
  
"No. I don't believe that. I couldn't like her any more than I do now." Ron insisted firmly.  
  
"Ew." Harry stated simply. With that, he began to get ready for bed.  
  
"But what do I do?" Ron called to Harry as his friend plopped down and got under his covers.  
  
"Tell her!" Harry called back. "And then forget we ever had this conversation -- Ugh, loving Hermione? Like, loving her that way? Gross."  
  
"Some pal." Ron mumbled, rolling his eyes as he, too, changed.  
  
After Harry and Ron retired, Hermione opened her copy of Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6 and got started on the essay McGonagall had assigned them for Transfiguration. She didn't make much progress, however; she was having an extremely hard time concentration. Thankfully just as she was about to give up all hope on everthing, the very person she thought might be able to help her walked through the portrait hole.  
  
"Ginny!" Hermione called happily, waving her friend over.  
  
"Hey, Hermione." Ginny smiled. "What do you need?"  
  
"Erm... I need to talk to you." Hermione said.  
  
"Okay, sure thing." Ginny replied.  
  
"Can we go somewhere a little more private? LIke your dormitory? Only I know Parvati and Lavender are already in my dormitory and this is kind of a sensitive issue... and they're... them."  
  
Ginny nodded and they made their way up to the fifth year dormitories.  
  
"What's up?" Ginny asked as soon as they had reached the safety of Ginny's dorm.  
  
"Ginny, I consider you one of my best friends in the world, and most definitely my best girl friend. I really need your advice on something. I can't tell anyone else." Hermione revealed to Ginny solemnly.  
  
"Thanks, Hermione." Ginny said, beaming. "That really means a lot to me. What did you need to talk to me about?  
  
Hermione bit her lip. She wanted to tell Ginny, really, she did, but she didn't know where to start. She knew Ginny might freak out at this news; after all, it was her brother, and this was MAJOR. She knew Ginny had experience with boys and that she gave great adviece... but this wa a secret! Nobody knew about it yet and... Ugh, Hermione, stop it. Just tell her! Hermione ordered herself.  
  
"Ginny... I like Ron." Hermione said, attempting to breace herself for her friend's outburst.  
  
"Okay." Ginny said.  
  
"Like, I really like him. As in more than a friend." Hermione thought Ginny might not understand in which way she liked Ron, so she tried to clarify things a bit.  
  
"That's a given." Ginny stated.  
  
"And I know tha -- what?" Hermione stopped midsentence.  
  
"Well, a 'given' is where --" Ginny began to explain.  
  
"No, I know what a given is. You -- you know that I like Ron?" Hermione managed to get out.  
  
"Doid." Ginny said, now examining her fingernails, looking as if they were far more interseting than Hermione's 'huge news.'  
  
Hermione thought she was quite likely to start hyperventilating.  
  
"That's funny," Hermione squeaked, "my hearing must be severely substandard. I thought for a second you said you knew about me liking Ron."  
  
"'Mione, I don't know why you're freaking out; it's not like it's some big secret or anything." Ginny said calmly.  
  
"Yes it is!" Hermione shrieked shirlly.  
  
"Oh... Erm, you're really bad at keeping secrets." Ginny informed her friend.  
  
Hermione was right: she did start hyperventilatiing. Ginny's eyes widened as she watched Hermione get more worked up than ever before, even more than in Hermione's year (Ginny's second), when she encountered a boggart during a Defense Against the Dark Arts exam. She would not defeat the boggart when it assumed the form of her worst fear: the fear of failing. After several moments Hermione calmed down enough for Ginny to get her to talk.  
  
"Hermione, it's really no big." Ginny assured her.  
  
"No big deal? NO BIG DEAL?" Hermione said, still extremely out of order. "Ginny, you just said Ron knows how I feel!"  
  
Ginny couldn't help it; she gave a loud cry of laughter at this statement.  
  
"Hermione, when I said 'people know,' I meant people with a higher IQ than that of a twig. I should have specified, but I mean, come on; you could probably have Dumbledore announce it to the entire school and he'd still be clueless."  
  
"Oh... So you don't think he knows?" Hermione said, her worry ebbing away slightly.  
  
"I don't think -- I KNOW he doesn't know." Ginny assured her.  
  
"Oh." Hermione said faintly.  
  
A full two minutes passed without anything being said. Hermione stared off into space and Ginny sat there fingering a hole in her sock. Hermione was only brought back to reality after a long yawn from Ginny. She gave her head a little shake and turned to Ginny. Hermione was biting her lip and her eyes were slightly glossy.  
  
"So what do I do?" whimpered Hermione.  
  
"What do you mean, what do you do? I thought your problem was solved. You wanted to know if he knew that you liked him." Ginny replied.  
  
"No, I didn't! I mean, I did, but that doesn't solve my problems! I need to know if I should tell him or not." Hermione wailed.  
  
"What do you mean? It's simple, you have to tell him yourself." Ginny said, quite matter-of-factly, despite the fact that this decision could majorly alter the course of Hermione's life.  
  
"Ginny, you know I can't do that." Hermione said.  
  
"Why not?" Ginny asked. "It's either that, or keep your emotions to yourself for like -- ever."  
  
Hermione bit her lip, considering this. She couldn't do that! Especially with the hard workload she was expecting this year... There was only one choice.  
  
"Alright," Hermione resolved. "I'll do it."  
  
"Great..." Ginny said, without much enthusiasm.  
  
"Thanks, Gin, I really needed someone to talk that over with. You're such a great confidante."


	7. Ways to Spill the Bertie Botts

((A/N: Hey everyone,

I was SO surprised when I checked my e-mail and saw that I had gotten so many reviews! I'm supposed to be going to bed around now (meh, my mum wants me in bed by 2 tonight because school starts soon), but I can take the time to write back to you guys. After all, you guys took the time to review my story! I'm eternally grateful and really touched. Chapter eight is pretty lengthy at the moment, but definitely not finished. Chapter 7 is a short chapter, but 8 will make up for it. I can guarantee it will make you grin, hopefully laugh, and no doubt you'll be furious at the end of it.

I'm pretty sure I promised you guys a chapter per week, and I'll try my hardest to keep up that promise. Really, I swear I will. But the more you review, the more incentive I have to write faster! In fact, I have a whole bunch of incentive at the moment to go and type away. I heart you guys!

Now on to the reviews (these are in no particular order)!

Pepstepper16: You said you'd be back to read more, and you held true to your statement! Let's hope I can hold true to mine about updating more frequently. If you liked that bit, you're sure to love a few lines that Harry says to Ron in chapter eight. It happens over dinner and I think after this Ron should die -- I mean, there will be so much blood in his face from his blushing that none should be left anywhere else. Anyhow, I've given too much away. Maybe. Maybe not. I really hope you like this next few chapters, and, when I get it up, chapter eight!

Evil Scientist: Yes, I have quite the amusing imagination and thinking up the awkward scenarios are, while sometimes a challenge, so much fun. I just love what I've got in store for you guys. And I love writing this story because everytime I think of how much I've been planning, how much everyone doesn't know (even though I've given away loads to my friends -coughhellopigletcough-), I have to smile. It's all so much fun!

I know how that writer's block/boredom can get to you. Lately I haven't written much because I've been feeling icky, and I can't write when I'm not feeling good, because it's oh-so-obviously reflected in my writing. Anyhow, I hope that you get over your writer's block, boredom, and anything else that's been keeping you from updating soon -- I'm sure your readers are anxiously awaiting your update!

Vanna Mave C: Thank you so much for your review. I've gotten complaints that it was far too poetic, but ... I don't know, I figured that it's a dream and therefore allowed to be that way. I myself like it; I also write a lot of poetry and I was glad to be able to incorporate a hint of that style into that chapter. I also think that starting it off as a dream was more original than just having it start out at Hogwarts or the Burrow. And I love standing out!

I ramble constantly, too, so don't worry -- I didn't even think of it as rambling. A lot of the reviews are so much lengthier than yours -- And it's not because I have all that much to say usually, I just can't stop myself from typing. By the time I'm done, I'll have put down 15 or so ways of saying that I liked the writing. It's terrible of me, but I don't know how to break that habit.

I'm sure you've got great ideas from all the fics you've read, and I wish you the best of luck when you write. Thanks again for your review!

angeD'espoir: Thanks, I love humor and, although I'm not a particuarly funny person, I try to give my writing that quality. I really hope that the funny parts don't seem too stressed. You guys want more pillow snogging? Heh, I think they're amusing. If anyone else wants them in here, just tell me, and I'll find a way to put more in. In fact, I think I just got some ideas!

HollyHottie: These are for both of your reviews: thanks! No, prat is what I intended to put there -- It's a british word, though, so if you live in the US or pretty much anywhere besides Europe, you probably wouldn't know. I only know it because Ron said that Harry was once (I believe in the fourth book, after ... the second task. I think). Plus, I have a british friend and I have been called a prat by him before (but no worries, he's a git. =P I mean... Heh, if you're reading this... Hey Tom. Just kidding. -cough- Yeah. No, you've never been a git. Never. -cough-).

Timra: Wow, people sure like putting their favorite tidbits in their reviews! . I like it -- you guys have favorite parts! Yay! Ron's so dim, so pathetic, that you just have to love him.

shortie522: Thanks very much. I try to be thorough in my writing and I suppose it shows. However, if there's anything you don't understand (as I know some have had problems), just drop me a line by e-mail ). I'll reply much faster that way.

ilive4cake00: Thanks! Cake is awesome, too! =D

NetMarie: That's a very good point about you killing me. Hm, now if only I can manipulate that explanation around so my teachers won't murder me for not doing my homework...

Your review made me giggle -- not at you, of course, but just because I've done the same thing. Not with my story, but with michelleywelley's. I've gotten so many weird stares from my family because I'll be reading and suddenly go "YES!" or start giggling profusely. My mum tells me all the time that I am in fact laughing at a box, and that that's very weird. I in turn stick up my nose, look offended, and tell her that if she wants me to stop oggling at a box then she should go out and buy me some more books to read.

You've read the story -summary- to your friends? Wow, I'm flattered -- I've never gotten thumbs up for a summary before!

iLuvDuckies29: Thank you, I'm glad you like it. I will keep updating it -- more faithfully, from now on.

wandgirl: Actually, I've heard of it happening quite often, even with friends. Even if they don't have the exact same dream, it's extremely similar. I figured why not for Ron and Hermione? It proved to be an interesting plot point, I think.

PS WOOt! TWO thumbs up! The only two thumbs you have, and you're pointing them up... -sniff- for me! -sobs dramatically in that way that sappy mums do when they watch an ending to a chick flick, a good Gilmore Girls, or a Hallmark commercial-

Lain-Iris: I'm glad to have provided a good chuckle. . There's no doubt in my mind that this fic will have another ten chapters or so, and after that I've got another five fics already planned -- most of them r/hr, one h/g, and I think one is both r/hr and h/g. About the dream -- see above. Usually I don't think that the people would have exactly the same dream, only very similar, but they're in a magic school and I think that that would enhance the similarities between them.

Yes, I agree, it was low, but I know my friends have pulled mean jokes and tricks, as I've done to them. Don't worry, there won't be any long lasting damage to Ron's ego.

Marel88: Wow, that's a lot of repeating! I'm really flattered by your review and I've got a new resolve to write more frequently. When I first started this fic I was writing it every day but then I kind of stopped. I will -not- let myself do that again, I promise. I hope you enjoy the rest of the fic and I hope you'll review again.

way2greek: Oh, so you're into short fics? I read a one shot every now and then, but I really like the process of a good, long, and thorough plot development. I hope that you won't lose interest after this chapter -- I assure you, there's plenty of mishap to come; what I've got planned is hardly boring.

Polaris09: I love "Fan. Bloody. Tastic." =D I think it's time for that phrase to appear more often, and I've got just the place for it. Your 'pleezy' has sticken me and my cold, black heart (heh, just kidding! I'm a very loveable person, I swear it -hides several murder weapons behind back-), and I'll be sure to update.

Raiining: You left me three reviews, so I'll reply to them all here:

chapter one: Yeah, he couldn't be so suave if his life depended on it. But I do think that he might try to be romantic -- In fact, I'm going to show yall later how I think his romance attempts will come off.

chapter two: Nope, the dream sequence in chapter two was just that -- a dream. It never happened.

chapter three: Yes, it's pretty long. I'm sorry if you don't like long fics, but I don't know how to write short ones! Maybe I'll try one in the future, but not until I've written the other fics I've got planned (Hmm, that reminds me. Note to self: Write down plots of the fics you've been planning, because if you don't, you're bound to forget them. You probably have already. Also: check into sun's demise). I do hope you'll continue to read despite my long pause in between updates and the length of this. I'll do my best to keep you all satisfied!

Topaz Waters: For your chapter one review: I KNEW I had to get someone saying something like that. A friend of mine said the same thing at first. I'm really weird with my writing, and I like to write things that would never happen, and I love to write little twists and turns in my plot -- you'll see that a few chapters from now.

chapter two: You fell for it AGAIN?! Tsk tsk. Although I'll concede to playing the sympathy card. I suppose unless you're really used to it, as am I, you can get into some trippy thinking after three in the morning.

You stopped reviewing, but I REALLY hope that you're enjoying my fic. Thanks for your two reviews!

missHermioneWeasley: Oh no, I mustn't have a reader die! BAH! -types as fast as possible- I hope that you're still reading, as opposed to slumped over dead on the keyboard! Thanks for your review, and believe me -- I've had to muffle my laughs -so- often while reading fan fics, because I've been up reading through the entire night several times. I can't do that now that school's starting in two days, most unfortunately. Anyhow, I hope that you got good rest after reading that impossibly large chapter.

Jessie McDonald: Yeah, Ron's got some issues .- I really like his mental contemplations; I think that when the story needs humor he's the easiest outlet as he's so naturally amusing the way JKR wrote him.

artemisgirl: I'm sorry you were confused. I get that way all the time and my brain hurts! =( Lol, but I am glad that you enjoyed that tidbit, and in chapter eight Dumbledore has another amusing line.

NetMarie: I already addressed you, but it was waaaaaaaay on the other page of reviews (WOOt, I have so many reviews that I have multiple pages now! You have no idea how awesome that is). So thank you, and now I can say -- yes, you have mentioned that you love my summary twice. Tee hee, I never thought when I wrote that that people would actually get a kick out of it.

Evil Scientist: Again, you reviewed again (thanks VERY much, I'm thrilled when people review and then continue to come back and review when I update), but it was awhile ago, so I'm addressing this one, too. Alas, I no longer update as frequently, as the sun sets on the horizon of summertime. -tear- But now at least you won't be so sleep deprived.

Get some rest! =)

Gabrielle88: Thanks, I'm touched. Keep an eye out for other stories by me; I'll be writing another one by the end of the year.

SweetiePye2332: You reviewed twice, so I'll reply to both of them here.

chapter one: Nope, I don't think I could ever write a one shot. Maybe I can write a shorter story one day, though. Oh, and yes, Ron has odd sleeping habits in my stories. I don't know why I make it that way, but I just imagine him being the one who would drool or talk in his sleep, and even snog his pillow. But he's not aware of it -- he says in book five that he hardly ever remembers his dreams. So other people know it but he's only vaguely aware of that fact.

chapter two: I've had quite a few dreams, but they won't happen all the time. I'm done with them for the moment until chapter ten or so. I'll need another one by then, and I think I can put one there, as long as no one objects to them.

Evil Scientist: Another review! . Heh, no, Krum's still there. She's not dating him, though -- That will all be explained... Let's see, in chapter eleven.

Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Thanks! I really love your story, too, and I take your words to heart. I can't wait to read your next chapter!

AmyChris: I hope that you enjoy this next chapter. It's short, but with all these review replies, it'll seem gigantic!

artemisgirl: Another review from you . Harry and Ginny won't be forcing them upon each other in this story, but your suggestion was surprisingly close to the plot of a story I will be writing this year.

Weasley's Girl-35: I know that situation all too well. I'm glad I could make you laugh, and I hope that you will continue to read and review! Thankies!

drummergrl472: Thank you, you're too kind. I hope you enjoy this next bit.

little pink sock: I know, it's hardly possible that Ron would push aside food for anything, but if he didn't there wouldn't be much to the story. Hmm, someone should look into that. It's a love triangle! Hermione loves Ron, but Ron can only gaze longingly at his mashed potatoes.. Hmm, but what about the potatoes? Will they ever confess their feelings for Hermione? DUN DUN DUN! (I'm so sorry. It's late. I'm weird. And I need mental help.))

M.Anne: Thank you. I was trying to think of ways for Ron and Hermione to finally get together, as well as some help with the ending of the first chapter. I came across that quote and decided that I could not go on without having that line in there. It was too perfect!

AmyChris: Woah, I'm surprised at how many people actually reviewed more than once. Thank you, and I think Ron is adorable as well.

Magnolia Lane: Hey! I donno if I ever got around to thanking you for this review. But THANKS! By the way, where have your updates been? =P Heh, as your beta I should be getting them, but you haven't sent any. Have you been having writers block like me? Maybe it's contagious.

artemisgirl: I keep seeing your name! Tee hee, thanks for your faithful reviews. I heart you guys; it really does give me the motivation to keep writing. If it weren't for you guys, I wouldn't do this.

little pink sock: I forgot to mention that I absolutely adore your sn. It's so cute and random .

Also: -joins in- RON SNOGS A PILLOW! Yes, I love that idea.

Shinegami's Little Sis: Thanks, I think it's cute, too. Thanks for your review!

Alright, my internet is shaky and I think I've replied to just about anyone. If I forgot you, I'm SO sorry! E-mail me and yell at me all you like.

While you're not reading this, please feel free to stop by my Xanga at and read my daily musings. Also, if you're in need of a good book, at the moment I'm reading Lady Knight -- the fourth book in the Protector of the Small quartet. It's by Tamora Pierce and HIGHLY recommended. I think if you like this and Harry Potter, you'll love her books. I know I do, and I hope yall will stop by your local library or bookstore to read them.

Also, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my friend Tegan. I haven't talked to her hardly at all this summer, she's been so busy. Whenever I do talk to her, I find that she CONSTANTLY forgets the URL to my fan fic, but I miss her terribly all the same. Teggie, I heart you, and I hope you're doing well!

Thus concludes the longest A/N EVER!!! WOOt! I hope yall are satisfied with your reviews, because I was supposed to be in bed an hour and a half ago. But you guys are worth me getting in trouble. TOODLES!))

Chapter Seven  
  
Ways to Spill the Bertie Botts  
  
The following few weeks passed in an agonizingly slow manner. At least, it did for both Hermione and Ron. The rest of the school continued on without notice of its two exasperated prefects.  
  
However, it didn't really matter that the school did not take notice of this pair, because what was troubling them had nothing to do with schoolwork.  
  
In fact, their minds were so far from schoolwork that even Hermione had ceased taking notes in most of her classes. No one knew this, of course, as she continued to write feverishly during lectures. No one pestered her, as she knew they wouldn't; her professors saw no reason to question their top student about her note taking habits, and her fellow classmates knew better than to disturb her (having been present during exam times for the past several years), lest they should suffer her wrath.  
  
Ron was paying less attention than usual in his classes -- if that was even possible. Of course, whatever attention he lacked in Transfiguration, he more than made up for when he thought of Hermione. It seemed that every moment was devoted to dwelling on her. Or, if he was not thinking of Hermione, he was instead wondering how to tell her of this true feelings. He often dreamed up scenarios while he slept at night ... or when he slept during the day (in his lessons).  
  
However, Hermione, being much more organized, chose to write out her ideas in a list. That way, it would be easily accessible, and she wouldn't run the risk of forgetting one of her brilliant plans.  
  
That is to say, if she could ever formulate a brilliant plan.  
  
She was now down to number forty-three on her list, and she let out a snort of disgust nearly as soon as she wrote it.  
  
43.) "Let's buy furniture!"  
  
"Oh yeah, Hermione. Real good thinking." Hermione thought. She didn't think that Ron would react well to this type of outburst.  
  
Ron, meanwhile, was having no more luck than Hermione.  
  
"Okay, maybe if I just walk up to her, and pull out a ring, and, you know, like, we get married and all, I won't have to tell her! She's smart, she shold be able to figure out that I like her, right?" Ron thought in Charms one afternoon.  
  
That night, as Hermione sat in the corner of the common room, struggling with her Charms homework (which had NEVER happened before -- it was Charms, her easiest subject! Hermione thought she was losing it ... But then again, Ron had been there and all, and he was SO cute, how was she supposed to concentrate on schoolwork?), Ginny sad down in the armchair to Hermione's right. Slightly startled, Hermione looked up at her friend, who was looking at her as if she almost didn't know Hermione. hermione tried to ignore this fact and greet Ginny warmly, but all she could offer at that moment was a weak smile.  
  
"Hermione, we need to talk," Ginny said as soon as she saw that she had her friend's attention. Then without waiting for a response, she plowed on. "You've been acting weird lately. Way weird. And I think that I know why." Ginny looked concerned. "It's been three weeks! How can you not have told him yet?"  
  
"Ginny, you don't get it. I don't get involved with boys! You do, I don't. I wish I knew how to start, but I have no clue. And he's my friend! What if I tell him and he freaks out? Then ... then I'd lose him forever." Hermione replied. Ginny noticed that her eyes were becoming steadily glossier.  
  
"He won't freak out." Ginny assured her confidently. Which wasn't entirely true; she thought Ron had a good chance of freaking out -- only not in a bad way. She may think that he could freak out, but she knew that he would not turn down Hermione.  
  
"I've been working on this list," Hermione said, drawing out a sheet of parchment directly under her unfinished Transfiguration essay. "It's got all my ideas of how to tell Ron that I like him."  
  
Ginny took the list from Hermione and looked at it, her eyes skimming down the list. Her gaze halted, however, when she reached number fifty-eight. She gave a small snort and looked up.  
  
"Hermione, as much as I think Ron would actually enjoy being handcuffed to you so that he literally couldn't say no to being together, I don't think that it would be the best way to go about this."  
  
Hermione heaved a big sigh and began to respond when her words were interrupted by the arrival of two people -- her best friend and her heartthrob.  
  
Harry and Ron spotted Hermione and Ginny right away. As they walked toward the two girls, Hermione freaked out and snatched her list ouf ot Ginny's hand -- at least, half of it. The paper ripped and Hermione's jaw dropped -- she had worked on that for weeks! She quickly recovered, however, as Harry and Ron approached. She grabbed the other half of the parchment from Ginny, and crumpled both halves of the list into a wad. She then grabbed Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six and placed the ball of paper inside. However, when she attempted to shut the volume, it wouldn't close. In a last minute attempt to hide her list, Hermione took her wadded up list and stuffed it into the cushion of her chair.  
  
By this time, Harry and Ron had reached the corner of the room. Harry looked very confused.  
  
"Hey Harry," Ginny said cheerily.  
  
"Oh my God!" Hermione thought. "How can she be so calm? I almost got caught!"  
  
"Hey Gin," Harry smiled. Then he turned to Hermione. "What was that?" he asked, inquiring about the list.  
  
"Er ... whatever do you mean, Harry?" Hermione paniced and stalled.  
  
"I mean that peice of parchment you just crumpled up." Harry replied.  
  
"Oh, that thing?" Hermione said, laughing nervously. She found herself unable to look Harry in the eye. "That was ... for ... those are ... er, you know ... official government documents. Er, nothing important." She said; still that nervous laugh lingered in her voice.  
  
"Right," Harry muttered, raising an eyebrow, but he did not press the matter. Instead, he took a seat next to Hermione.  
  
Ron followed suit, sitting next to Ginny. There was a short pause, before Ginny asked:  
  
"So, how was practice?"  
  
There had not actually been Quidditch practice that night, or else Ginny would have been with Harry and Ron, being on of Gryffindor's chasers this year, but Harry and Ron felt they needed to have their skills at their sharpest, and therefore had been practicing extra for the past two weeks.  
  
"Fine," Harry answered.  
  
They chatted steadily for a while. Or, Harry and Ginny did. Hermione didn't input much to the conversation (although this wasn't a surprise; everyone knew that Hermione was not particuarly interested in Quidditch), and Ron never spoke a word, even though Quidditch was his favorite sport (he loved it so much, in fact, that he decorated his room with Chudley Cannon merchandise -- the Chudley Cannons being his favorite Quidditch team ... though why he loved this dismal team, no one knew).  
  
As the conversation carried on, Hermione averted her attention to her new favorite activity: Ron Watching. In that moment that her gaze settled upon his face, she saw perfection. His cheeks were still a little red against his adorable freckles, and his hair still had that windblown look. She also noticed that he seemed quite intent on not looking up at her. And in that moment of perfection, her heart sank ...  
  
Hermione remained quiet for the rest of the conversation, which wasn't too long, because ten minutes later, Harry got up, saying he was tired from Quidditch practice, and that he was going to turn in. He bid Hermione and Ginny goodnight before turning to walk up the boys' staircase. Ron rose and mutely followed Harry. Ginny waited until the pair had disappeared up the staircase before she turned to Hermione.  
  
"Hey ... you got really quiet. Are you okay?" she asked.  
  
"I ... I can't do it. I just ... he's so great, Ginny! I feel so inadequate." Hermione looked up at Ginny, salty tears threatening to spill over on to her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Gin, but I have to go, I just ... I just can't ..." her voice faltered at this point, so she stood up and, abandoning all her things, hurried up to her dormitory, wiping her eyes as she climbed the staircase.  
  
Up in his dormitory, Ron changed into his pajamas silently. Harry didn't bother him as he was immersed in conversation with Dean, for which Ron was grateful. Now changed, he ot into bed, pulled the curtains shut around his four poster, closed his eyes, and waited for sleep to come ...  
  
Ron walked down the steps, into the Gryffindor common room, and walked straight towards its only other occupant.  
  
"Hey, 'Mione," he said.  
  
Hermione looked up from something she was writing. It appeared to be a list.  
  
"Hey," she answered.  
  
"What are you planning to do today?" Ron tried to make conversation.  
  
"Hm, I don't know. Maybe go outside, visit Hagrid, sit out by the lake?" Hermione responded.  
  
"Oh. How's the weather?" Ron questioned.  
  
"Er, well, it's been fairly nice lately ..." replied Hermione.  
  
"You know ..." Ron said, now taking a seat beside Hermione," I think that the weather can stand for other things, like someone's love for another. Say ... your love for me. So, really, Hermione -- how's the weather?"  
  
Hermione smiled and blushed.  
  
"What? Don't tell me my feelings are unrequited," Ron said, with his best hurt look.  
  
"I'm not. I'm going to tell you that I predict a sunny say, and a clear night sky." Hermione laughed.  
  
"That's all your fault," Ron remarked.  
  
"What?" Hermione asked, puzzled.  
  
"Hermione, the worst way to miss someone is when they're right beside you, but you know you can't have them. And every time that I miss you, a star falls from the heavens. So if you ever look up and see a blank sky, with no stars , then it's your fault ... for making me miss you so much."  
  
Hermione pondered this for a moment.  
  
"No, it's you're fault," she said.  
  
"Why?" it was Ron's turn to be puzzled.  
  
"For thinking you couldn't have me." Hermione answered softly.  
  
Ron smiled at her words, took her hands in his, and drew her closer ...  
  
Ron smiled in his sleep, and embraced his pillow tightly.  
  
Ron was up the next morning just as the sun began to make its mark on the horizon. He stretched and began pulling on his robes as he chuckled a at the latest dream he had (remembering his dreams was once a rare occurrence, but now he dreamed of Hermione almost nightly, and could recall every blissful moment. Ron thought this was only fair -- after all, if he couldn't have her in real life, shouldn't he at least be able to hold he in his dreams?).  
  
"Like I could ever pull something like that off." He muttered to himself, thinking of his smooth lines in his latest nighttime adventure.  
  
Ron sighed and looked out the window -- the sun was just rising. He wanted to wait for Harry to get up to go to breakfast. He knew he had been distant lately and should probably apologize. Besides, maybe Harry could take his mind off of Hermione.  
  
But what to do until then? Hmm, maybe he could get caught up on all that homework he had been neglecting lately ...  
  
It wasn't until Ron reached the bottom of the stairs that he registered what he was doing: homework.  
  
IT WAS A SATURDAY!  
  
Ron decided to look into seeking professional help later. Maybe Hogwarts had a psychologist ...  
  
As Ron walked over to his favorite squashy armchair near the fireplace, he noticed something: it was occupied. By two people ... fourth years, by the look of them. Stupid fourth years, sleeping in chairs together when he couldnt' even be more than friends with Hermione! Not even a little more! He considered waking them up and making them move out of spite (he was a prefect, after all, and he was sure he could make up some sort of rule against this), but he restrained himself. Instead, he retreated to the very corner of the room and sat down. Now what? Maybe he'd write a letter, or ... throw stuff at the couple in His Chair, or -- wait a moment ...  
  
Something was scratching at his side. Ron glanced down and saw a bit of parchment poking him in the side. He tugged at it, but the corner he was holding on to tore off. The parchment was wedged in to the cushion pretty tightly. Now he was curious. He reached down and retrieved ... a wad of paper.  
  
He almost immediately chucked the ball at the couple, but stopped as a vision surfaced in his memory ...  
  
A frantic Hermione, last night, sitting in a chair -- this chair -- tucking some parchment -- this parchment -- away, into a cushion -- this cushion.  
  
This belonged to Hermione. What was it she had been so nervous about? What was it that she didn't want them all to see?  
  
He flattened out the parchment immediately, which turned out to be two halves of a sheet of parchment, it had been ripped -- and his eyes fell upon the title of a list:  
  
Ways To Tell Ron How I Feel  
  
His jaw dropped as he scanned the list. "Funiture?" he thought, confused. "Handcuffs?" A more forwards side interrupted his freak out "Hm, handcuffs, there's an idea ..." Ron struggled to push that out of his mind ...  
  
"Bloody hell," Ron croaked.

((A/N: DUN DUN DUN! =P … Oh, by the way, I chose this chapter title over "Ways to spill the beans," for obvious reasons -- I thought Bertie Botts was a creative yet easily understood substitute.

I hope to update soon! I'm going to send the next chapter to my beta (who hasn't had the chance to do anything yet as I wrote this chapter awhile ago, before she volunteered to beta for me… but whatever) by Thursday. Updates will come either this weekend or early next week. But I'll work faster the more yall review!))


	8. Consider Them Spilled

((A/N: IT'S HERE! YAY! Heh, I'm not even going to bother with a big note until the end of the chapter... enjoy reading, and I'm sorry it's a tad late!))

Chapter Eight

Consider Them Spilled

"Bloody hell," Ron repeated for the tenth or so time.

That was about all he could say. His mind was whirring with thoughts. He was so confused; what did this list mean? He entertained the thought that this might possibly mean that Hermione was starting to like him. But was that possible? No. Wait! He was dreaming again! Damnit ... But then again, if he was dreaming, where was Hermione? Where was the kissing? Where were the handcuffs? Wait a minute, wait a minute, there were no handcuffs. Were there? He didn't think so. But everything was so jumbled up at the moment that he didn't know what to think. There could be handcuffs. No, there couldn't. Yes, there could. No, there couldn't, because life hates him. And because he was at school. Without Hermione. Well, he was with Hermione, but not in this room, or in the dating sense. Or was he? Hmm, maybe he could go ask her. No, he couldn't! This wasn't a dream! Yes, it was. Why would it? She wasn't here! Where's the furniture shop?!

"I don't know!" Ron wailed aloud.

"Okay Ron, think. Think!" He ordered himself. He mentally bolted himself to his chair while he tried to configure a plan. What was he supposed to do? His dreams about Hermione usually didn't give him a headache, but he was thinking so hard that his skull pounded with every beat of his heart.

"What am I going to do?" he stressed.

Ron decided that love sucked, and that its demise would shortly ensue that of the sun's. First, it makes it so his every thought is devoted to Hermione, so that he can't sleep or do his homework (well, that wasn't one of his strong points anyway, but that's entirely beside the point). It drives him insane; he's so happy yet so miserable at the same time. Then he finds something that makes him more confused than he was before, because he can't decipher it. He doesn't know if Hermione likes him or not, and he can't ask her because that would entail admitting his true feelings and, like, being all mushy and stuff. He wanted to get it out of his system, yet what if he found out that "Ways To Tell Ron How I Feel" was not a list of how she could possibly reveal her feelings of utmost devotion to him as he would so like to think, but rather was to tell him that she wanted to go shopping for couches together? He wanted Hermione, yes, but the rejection? Not so much.

"Okay, so, here's the plan," he thought. "I bolt right now, leaving everything behind. I don't really need my clothes, chocolate frogs, and worldly, one of a kind, priceless possessions with me to get by, do I?" Ron bit his lip. "What the hell am I thinking, I need the chocolate frogs. Okay, so, I take the chocolate with me and go to... Canada. Yeah, Canada sounds good, it's like, small and stuff, right? I think it's an island, actually ... Which is good, because I don't want to live somewhere where it ever snows. I can live in an igloo, have pet beaver, and get a job as a mounted officer. And I'll fit in because I'll learn to speak their language -- eh? See, I'm doing it already. Sounds like a good plan to me!"

Ron was just beginning to rise when he realized what he had just thought. Why would an igloo be on an island? He wasn't quite sure, but he was hoping that whatever type of island his future would be on, the igloo would be warm. He put his thoughts into closing and straightened up, but he had not taken two paces, Harry appeared, traipsing down the steps. He appeared to be in deep thought, but his expression changed when he looked up to see Ron there.

"Oh, hey Ron," Harry looked somewhat startled to see Ron awake at such an hour, especially on a Saturday.

"Oh, erm, hey Harry," Ron replied in a very nervous tone of voice. Harry raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Is something wrong?" Harry asked.

"Wrong? Why would something be wrong? There's no reason, there's nothing, there's no proof. It's not like there's a list that might tell you that something is wrong, or right, or in between, or what kind of couch you should buy." Ron sputtered.

"Alright, spit it out," Harry said, knowing something was up. Ron wasn't right in the head most days, but he could usually form sentences. Except when it came to...

"It's -- It's Hermione." Ron said shakily, leaning back into the chair he had risen to only moments before. Harry took a seat opposite him.

"Go on," Harry pressed.

"I ... I think she may like me." Ron said.

"Go on," Harry repeated.

"... As more than a friend," Ron continued dramatically.

"Go on," Harry said once again.

"Harry, this is serious! You can't just sit there, listening to this kind of stuff giving me the broken record treatment!" Ron stressed.

"Go on," Harry thought that pissing Ron off at times like this was such a fun task.

"Bloody hell, Harry, it's not funny!" Ron fumed. "Here, look, I found this list!" He showed Harry the two halves of the list. Harry studied it, and bit his lip. "Well?" Ron urged Harry to give his opinion.

"I think that it means ..." Harry said.

"Yes?" Ron pressed him, eagerly.

"That ... she wants you to buy furniture with her." Harry concluded, a grin spreading across his lips.

Nostrils flaring as angrily as his hair was red, Ron snatched the list from Harry and stuffed it into one of the pockets of his robes. He was just about to send a retort Harry's way as well when they were interrupted by another's voice.

"Hey," she said, somewhat tiredly.

"Hey _Hermione_," Harry replied, his grin growing wider. He knew exactly how Ron would react.

Ron snapped his head around so quickly that Harry was surprised he didn't obtain a severe case of whiplash.

"Oh, hey, erm -- Her -- Hermione, how are ... how're you?" Ron stammered.

"Um, hi, Ron. I'm just fine, thank you for asking." came Hermione's reply.

"Yeah ..." Ron said, trying to play it cool. "Yeah, no problem."

Ron tried to ruffle his hair to give it that windblown effect, but he ended up looking slightly pathetic. "What am I going to do?" he thought to himself wildly. He racked his brains, but came up with nothing. "Well, there's only one thing to do, I suppose." He resigned.

"Well, erm, I've got to go! Bye!" He said, darting for the common room.

"Wait!" Hermione tried to stop him, but he had already dashed through the portrait hole.

"What's the matter with him?" Hermione asked, a puzzled look on her face.

"Er ... donno" Harry replied, trying to suppress the sly grin that was attempting to creep across his face.

Hermione bit her lip and looked at the floor, thinking. Harry took this break in the conversation to make his exit.

"Well, look at the time. I've got to get going." Harry said, also making his way for the portrait hole.

"What? Where are you going?" Hermione asked.

"Erm ... library?" Harry called before he, too, disappeared.

"But the library is what I do!" Hermione groaned.

Why were they acting so weird? If anyone had the right to be acting weird, it was Hermione; she had been dreaming of Ron more than ever recently, which was really saying something. She sighed and walked over to the common room's corner. Last night when Hermione returned to her dorm, she remembered that all of her things were still down in the common room. Not wanting to go downstairs at the moment, she resolved to get her supplies the next morning. Hermione gathered her books, parchment, ink, quill, and her school bag, before she remembered something else that she needed to retrieve. Her list! Thank goodness she had remembered it.

Hermione pushed her hand into the cushion of the armchair that she had been sitting in last night. However, her hand came to meet nothing. The crumpled bits of parchment were no longer there. Her heart quickened; what did this mean? Could someone have gotten a hold of the list? Surely not, why would they go rummaging in a cushion? But if it wasn't there, where was it?

Ron walked out through the castle doors and out into the reach of the newly risen sun. He could feel the list in his pocket; how was it that the small weight of this parchment could weigh so heavily on his mind? He tried to sort out exactly what everything meant and figure out what he should do, but he came up with nothing. How was he supposed to figure out a crisis this big? "Hermione could do it," Ron thought. "But I'm not Hermione," another side of him answered. "Nor am I Hermione's type," Ron sighed. "But maybe you could be. Maybe you are. Maybe she wants you to be. You did see that list. She likes you. Tell her that you like her, too!" Ron pushed.

"Oh bloody hell -- first love drives me mad, and now I've developedTop of Form 1

Multiple Personality Disorder." Ron murmured.

Ron ruffled his hair as he mulled over his options. He was only sixteen, though, how was he supposed to think of a way out of -- or into -- this? "They really should teach us about girls at Hogwarts, you know," Ron thought. "It'd be far more useful than several of the subjects that we are so unfairly forced to endure anyhow (with Divination, Potions, and History of Magic rising to the top of that list)." Ron was sure many people would agree with his reasoning. He wondered for a moment if Hogwarts had a suggestion box or something. He made a mental note to look into that later. Right after he took care of that bloody sun, which was, by the way, attempting to blind him at the moment.

He should really get back to the matter at hand, though. Ron had before him a dire situation. What was he to do in a ire situation. He sighed heavily.

"Hermione would know what to do..."

"What am I going to do?!" Hermione cried. "Oh, God, where is that bloody list?"

Hermione didn't know wo to turn to. This was catastrophic. She obviously couldn't keep this bottled up inside her; she'd have an emotional breakdown. But who could she turn to? She hadn't told anyone about her list or her feelings for--

Wait a minute.

"Ginny!" Hermione shrieked, bounding into the fifth year girls' dormitory

No reply. Hermione scanned the dormitory quickly and found it empty. Where could Ginny have gone so early? She vaguely remembered Ginny saying something about having to study. With her O.W.L.s coming up this year, she was going to have to study on the weekends if she wanted top marks. Hermione walked over to Ginny's bed and sure enough she found Ginny's bookbag missing.

Hermione walked into the library fifteen minutes later (she had been subdued slightly by Peeves, who sneaked up behind her, grabbed her nose, shouted "GOT YOUR CONK!" and was not intent on letting go). She scanned the library quickly and her eyes fell upon the flaming red hair of Ginny Weasley. Ginny's back was to Hermione, but, save for the rest of the Weasley family, no one's hair was as red as Ginny's, so the girl was easily distinguishable from any angle.

"Hey Ginny," Hermione greeted her friend, relieved that she had found her. "And... oh. Harry."

Hermione had been so concentrated on finding Ginny that she had overlooked one of her other best friends sitting across Ginny. He looked up at Hermione, a large grin on his face; he and Ginny had obviously been having a very enjoyable conversation.

"Hey Hermione," Harry said, still smiling.

"I didn't realize you two had an, erm, study date," Hermione told them. "I'm sorry to interupt.

Ginny's face reddened ever so slightly, but it was such a minor change from her already rosy cheeks that it went almost unoticed by Hermione.

"Oh, no," Ginny explained. "I don't have a study date with Harry. I came here to brush up on some reading, and I ran into Harry here. We were just, er, taking a small break."

"I see..." Hermione smiled slightly at Ginny, and then got on to business. "Ginny, can I speak to you for a moment? Erm, alone? In private?"

"Wow, alone _and _privately, pulling for both synonyms at once." Harry whistled. "You've always been quite the overachiever, Hermione."

"Oh, shut up." Hermione retorted plainly. She then looked at Ginny, who nodded, rose, and followed her to a corner of the library.

"Okay, what's so important and oh-so-private that you can't say it in front of Harry, one of your best friends?" Ginny questioned once they were out of earshot.

"The list's gone," Hermione replied.

"Huh?" Ginny asked, confused.

"The list. It's gone. You know, what list that I was writing to erm... well, about Ron. And, er, how I feel." Hermione told her.

Ginny nodded, a silent prod to continue. Hermione took a breath and realized that her lips were chapped and her mouth was stone dry; all her worrying must have done so. She wet her lips briefly and took a moment to ensure that her voice wouldn't crack when she spoke. Hermione then continued to relate the happenings of that morning to Ginny, including her fears that her list must have fallen into the wrong hands -- more specifically, the hands of Ron or Harry.

When she finished, Hermione expected Ginny to look shocked, wary, or at the very least concerned. Now that she was done, however, Ginny's hands were placed firmly on her hips; her eyebrows were arched, and if Ginny was concerned about anything, she was concerned about Hermione's state of mental health.

"Hermione, did it ever occur to you," Ginny inquired, speaking very slowly and enunciating very carefully, as if she were speaking either to someone very young or someone with the mentality of a very young person -- or rather, she used the voice she usually reserved for Ron," that the Gryffindor Common Room is cleaned nightly by House elves? It's highly likely that one of them picked it up and regarded it it as rubbish. It _was _crumpled up, after all."

"Oh," Hermione said meekly. For all her brilliancy, this had never occurred to her.

"But it's not like Ron would understand the list if he did find it," Ginny voiced er afterthought. She smiled slightly, straightened her robes, and said to hermione, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to Harry." She started to take a few paces, turned back to Hermione once more, and informed her, "Who is _not _my date."

Hermione stepped out of the library moments later, idly mulling over the reading she intended to get done that day. She could not help grin widely, though. Hermione would not be quick in forgetting the slight tinge on Ginny's cheeks as she spoke her last remark.

Hermione returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, went to her dormitory, retrieved a book from her vast collection, and began to read. She was so relaxed in the warm comfort of her four poster, so absorbed in her reading, and so relieved to have something to distract her from thinking of Ron again, that she didn't look up all day. When she finally did stop reading _New Theory of Numerology_ (it was her eighteenth reading since she recieved the book from Harry on Christmas the previous year), she was surprised to find that night had fallen, and dinner had already started. She put away her book and brushed her hair before she went down to dinner.

Harry and Ron sat across from each other in the Great Hall; dinner had started ten minutes ago, but still Hermione hadn't shown up.

"Hm, wonder where Hermione is," Harry said in a very mild tone. He had an evil grin on his face, however, as he knew from that day's experience how Ron reacted at every mention of Hermione.

Ron predictably dropped his fork and gave a small yelp. Harry laughed; he knew he was being mean to Ron, but he couldn't help himself; it was just too hilarious.

"I, uh, I haven't a clue," Ron said in a high pitched voice.

Ron picked his fork up again and began to shovel food into his mouth. However, he did so without the relish he normally had at mealtimes; he was merely bolting down his food to get dinner over with and find another place to hide from Hermione. Harry had run into him several times during the day at various places around the grounds, such as the lake, the Quidditch pitch, the boys' lavatories, and even coming down to lunch earlier, where Harry later found out he had been sitting by the ladder below the Divination room on the seventh floor.

Wow, Harry thought to himself, he's more nervous now than he's been all day. You know what? I could have some fun with this.

"Why the rush, Ron?" Harry asked in the same mild tone, referring to Ron's fierce eating habits. "Having an affair?"

It just so happens that there are more than one definition for many words. The word affair happens to have more than one meaning. One is 'A romantic and sexual relationship, sometimes one of brief duration, between two people who are not married to each other.' Another definition of this term is ' A social function.' While Harry would forever claim that he was speaking in reference to the latter definition, Ron, in his current jumpy state of mind, immediately thought Harry was speaking of the former.

"No! What would give you -- the idea -- why would you think -- think that -- think that -- think that -- I'm not like that!" Ron tumbled over himself.

Harry barely contained a loud guffaw and made another attempt at flustering Ron. It worked.

"Fine, fine, be secretive about your engagement," He said, raising his hands slightly with a look of surrender. He was not speaking to the period of time before two people's marriage, as he knew Ron would interpret, but was merely using a synonym for affair.

An interesting thing happened in that moment. As Harry closed his sentence, Albus Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement. As was common, the school immediately quieted down to listen to him. However, in Ron's frustration, he did not notice the headmaster rise, nor the complete silence of the entire Great Hall which provided the unique environment for his next statement.

"I'm sixteen!" Ron exclaimed, his voice growing with every syllable he spoke. Indeed, he was not aware everyone looked to him at once. "Get off my back! I'm not engaged! I don't have a ring! I don't know how to propose! I WOULDN'T PROPOSE! I HAVEN'T CHEATED ON ANYONE!"

Possibly the loudest silence in anyone's memory followed Ron's outburst. Dumbledore was the first to break the stillness of the room.

"Well, thank you for informing everyone, Mr. Weasley. However, if you don't mind, I have an announcement of myself."

Ron's jaw dropped to the floor. Even after he stopped yelling, he wasn't aware of the quietness of the room.

To add to the ordeal, at that moment, Hermione took her seat beside Ron.

"Hi," she said breathlessly.

Ron jumped but managed a somewhat smooth, "Hello."

"Sorry I'm late," Hermione apologized as she poured some pumpkin juice into her glass, "I lost track of time reading."

"Reading, eh?" Harry replied, "Why am I not surprised?"

"Well it's not my fault, I wanted to go over some Numerology a few days back, but I never got the time what with gettting ahead in Transfiguration. Anyhow, what was Dumbledore talking about? When I walked in he was talking about Ron informing him of something." Hermione asked, now helping herself to some carrots.

"Well, Ron here was--" Harry began.

"Doing absolutely nothing! Nothing at all!" Ron interjected.

"Er, alright." Hermione said, now turning to her meal.

"I've got to go." Ron told them suddenly.

"Why the rush, Ron? Don't you want to be here -- with Hermione?" Harry questioned.

"What?!" Ron squeaked.

"I'm sure she'd love to be with you." Harry continued.

"Excuse me?" Hermione's stomach lurched; she hadn't thought about Ron since she had poured her pumpkin juice ... Well, maybe a few times since then, but not many. Maybe two, three tops. Damn Harry.

"I've really got to go," Ron said. "I've got... I've got... Divination work!" And with that, he sprung from the table and traipsed out the hall.

"But -- but we don't have Divination anymore!" Harry called after him, but Ron was already gone.

Harry shrugged, and, turned back to his meal. Hermione, however, looked to where Ron had left, biting her lip. She didn't know what to make of Ron's odd behavior. As she turned back to her plate of food, she heard Harry mumbling; only one word was audible as he was mumbling very quietly: list. This was all Hermione needed, however, to make her heart stop.

"List?" she questioned hoarsely.

Harry's head snapped up, and his eyes grew wide.

"What?" he asked.

"You said something about a list. What list?" Hermione hoped against hope she hadn't guessed what was going on; she prayed Ginny was right.

"Erm, nothing. Just a list of some... quidditch moves I need to work on." Harry told her.

She had no such luck. Hermione knew Harry all too well; she wasn't stupid and she had heard Harry lie to her too many times to believe him now.

"Oh no. God, no." Hermione whispered to herself as her face paled horribly.

Harry swore as Hermione sprang from the table and hurriedly made her way out of the Great Hall. She had to find Ron. What Hermione would tell Ron when she tracked him down, she did not know, but she did know that she could not just sit in the Great Hall, eating dinner, and acting like her life's biggest secret hadn't been found out.

Stepping into the Entrance Hall, Hermione quickly scanned it. She didn't expect to find Ron only this far away, as he had been in quite a rush, but she didn't want to overlook him. As she climbed a staircase, she did the same scanning motion, her gaze looking for the slightest detection of movement, a glimpse of that flaming red hair that she adored.

She found luck shortly thereafter on the second floor. Just as she reached the last step of yet another set of stairs, panting slightly due to her taking the stairs two at a time to catch up to Ron more quickly, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She was sure of it; not a moment before, robes had whipped around the corner to her left. She wasn't entirely sure it was Ron as she had only seen a bit of black cloth, the same all students at Hogwarts wore as part of their school uniform, but she was willing to place her faith in her suspicions. Taking a deep breath, she followed the person as quickly as possible.

As soon as she turned the corner, her thoughts were confirmed; after all, he was the only boy in the entire school who was that tall, with that hair, and that stance that she had longingly gazed after for years. But this was no time to get caught up in wistful thoughts yet again.

"Ron!" she called, her voice a breathless pant, but still loud enough to get his attention.

Ron turned around at hearing his name (or was it her voice that called on such an instant reaction?) and saw Hermione standing not thirty feet away from him. His jaw fell open and his eyes widened; how had she caught up with him so quickly? And why had he followed her? Regardles of reason, however, Ron knew something was up, and he intended to make a quick escape. Glancing behind him, he spotted a very specific door which he had been going into since last year. He quickly turned his body around, and in a few strides, he had reached the door.

"Squeaky clean!" He told the polished wood; a split second later, the door unlocked.

Ron turned the doorknob eagerly and fell into the room. The door shut as he leaned against it; once inside the Prefect's Lavatory, he sighed, relief spreading through him. He took a step away from the door, then another, rubbing his face with his hands. Most unfortunately he was rudely taken out of his brief stage of tranquility when he heard the door open again. He spun around and met Hermione, who had just entered and closed the door.

"Bloody hell!" Ron jumped back a pace; Hermione following him was the last thing he had expected.

"Honestly Ron, being a prefect, do you think I wouldn't know the password?" Hermione questioned, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She didn't wait for Ron's response and continued, "We need to talk. I heard Harry mumble something, and I'm not sure if he's told you about it. See, Ron, I... erm, I wrote this, this sort of list. And I think that Harry found it. Now, it was nothing big--"

"Just really confusing," Ron mumbled very quietly to himself.

"But-- pardon me?" Hermione asked.

"Huh? Oh, the list, it was..." Ron began to reply.

"Wait, so Harry did tell you about the list?" Hermione wanted to confirm her assumptions so that she wouldn't have any guilt issues when she murdered Harry later on.

"No," Ron replied.

"So how did you know about the list?" Hermione questioned.

"Well I sat on it, and then uncrumpled it because it was a bit uncomfortable--" Ron started to explain.

"Wait, hold on; YOU found my list?" Hermione asked.

"Well, yeah," Ron replied, thinking she had known this by now.

"RONALD WEASLEY, HOW COULD YOU?!" Hermione did not take this well.

"Woah -- what?" He asked, dumbfounded.

"YOU WENT SCAVENGING THROUGH MY THINGS--" Hermione yelled

"Woah, hold on a minute--" Ron tried to say.

"--TRESSPASSING BY SORTING THROUGH MY PRIVATE PROPERTY," She continued without heed.

"I found it in a cushion. A cushion!" Ron said, now yelling, too, but not nearly matching Hermione's impressive roar.

"YOU READ MY MOST PRIVATE, SECRET THOUGHTS!" Hermione trembled with rage.

"It was crumpled up, torn up, and tossed somewhere where I thought it was just a bit of rubbish!" Ron attempted to tell her, but recieved no such luck.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS RON, HOW?! DO YOU KNOW HOW EMBARRASSING THIS IS?" Hermione was shouting so loud now that she was breathless, not to mention hurting Ron's ears, what with her voice and the echo of the Prefect's Lavatory. Someone was going to hear them if she didn't calm down soon.

"Woah," Ron said quietly, something dawning on him.

"IT WAS ONE THING THAT HARRY KNEW, BUT AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT THAT YOU WOULD FIND OUT! IT WAS THE ONE THING I COULDN'T TELL YOU, AND YOU WENT SNOOPING AROUND TO GET IT--" Hermione rambled on, her eyes now glossy.

Ron was smiling now, despite all of Hermione's accusations.

"DON'T YOU SMILE AT ME, RONALD, I AM ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS! WHAT YOU DID WAS COMPLETELY UNFORGIVABLE, NOT TO MENTION THE MOST LOW LIFE OF A TRICK YOU COULD EVER PLAY ON ME; I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS!" Hermione wasn't intent on stopping, now that she had gotten into her stride. Ron was forced to remember a particular time right before second year, when Ron had been caught by his mum coming home from rescuing Harry from captivity at the Dursleys' home; Mrs. Weasley had been furious and yelled for hours until her voice became hoarse.

"Hermione, would you just STOP for one moment?" Ron pleaded.

"OH NO, DON'T YOU EVEN TRY, YOU ARE NOT GETTING OUT OF THIS--" Hermione resisted.

Ron had to stop himself from rolling his eyes as would usually be his customary reply by now.

"Whatever, you wanna do it with your mouth open, FINE BY ME!" Ron told her.

And before Hermione had time to scream another set of ramblings, Ron had taken the few short steps he had taken back from Hermione, closing the space in between them. He lifted her chin gently and, not knowing exactly what to do, but being aware of the general idea and figuring he'd figure it out eventually (he hoped), he gently pressed his lips to hers.

In all truth of the matter, it wasn't the world's greatest kiss. It wasn't the most passionate by far, although both had longed for this occurrence for quite some time. History would forget this kiss in the blink of an eye, but Ron and Hermione would remember it forever, because the kiss was perfect for them.

Ron leaned back ever so slightly after the first few moments. His stomach had gone all tingly and he guessed that no matter how hard he tried to look ... well, suave -- how he looked in his dreams -- he could not for the life of him wipe the large, crooked, goofy grin that had fixed itself to his face. He also assumed that he looked red as a tomato, especially witht

Hermione, on the other hand, looked shocked.

"What--?" Hermione stuttered.

Wait, did he not do it right or something? Or did she not like him like he thought she did?! No, she had to, she said it practically. He shook those thoughts out of his head as he gave his reply.

"I thought that if I kissed you, you'd shut up," he said softly.

And before she had the chance to stutter again or hit him, which is what he guessed she would be likely to do, he kissed her again. After their second parting, Hermione managed a few words.

"What--what are you doing?" she asked.

"Am I that bad of a kisser that you can't even recognize what I'm doing?" Ron answered, a smile playing at his lips again. He had kissed Hermione. TWICE!

"But... But you like... I don't understand." Hermione bit her lip. She did actually look quite stumped, for one of the few times in her life.

TWICE! That's two times of kissing!

"Well, you see, a kiss is this kind of thing that you do when--" Ron was cut off when he had to dodge a light smack aimed his way by Hermione, which he guessed wouldn't have hurt much, but Ron thought it added a nice dramatic effect. "Hey, you could have seriously injured me there!" He told her after her attempt.

"Ron, you like me?" Hermione tried to make sense of the situation.

"Oh, I'm sorry, were you not here for the past minute or so? Only I thought I had kissed you, but now that you're so confused, I'm not entirely sure," he joked lightly.

"Ron..." Hermione warned.

"Of course I like you, Hermione," Ron sighed. "How could I not?"

"Because I'm a know-it-all freak who's the bossiest person in the wizarding populace," Hermione answered.

"Yeah, well..." Ron said, "You're cute when you're bossy."

"Ron, I lo--" Hermione began.

"Hmm?" Ron prodded when she stopped midsentence.

"I like you. I really, really like you." Hermione ammended.

Ron smiled and kissed her again. And this time she kissed him back.

Ten minutes later Ron and Hermione walked into the Gryffindor Common Room, fingers laced. It was surprisingly empty for this hour, although there was a group of several fourth years in one shadowed corner of the room studying for an upcoming exam. As Hermione and Ron made their way together to their favorite squashy armchairs right by the fire, they noticed that two of them were occupied. Harry and Ginny were awake, chatting quietly. Harry looked up as they approached; he looked from Hermione's and Ron's intertwined hands, and then to their faces. He looked at their hands again, then their faces. Hands, faces.

"Damn," he said quietly, passing Ginny a gold galleon.

"Thank you," replied Ginny happily, accepting the money.

Ron's jaw dropped. Hermione, on the other hand, didn't seem quite as surprised.

"Ginny, when you made that joke about betting on Ron and I getting together, I didn't say "do it" seriously." Hermione told her, rolling her eyes.

"You bet on us?" He asked Ginny.

"I'm merely enjoying your good fortune, brother," Ginny replied, smiling up at him.

Ron snorted in disgust before addressing Hermione.

"I'm going to go put some stuff away, okay? I'll be back in a few minutes."

Hermione nodded and kissed his cheek lightly. Ron trotted up the stairs and entered his dormitory. Everything suddenly seemed so much brighter. At the sound of the dormitory door clicking shut, he let out a _whoop! _for good measure, before he succumbed to an overwhelming fit of goofy guffaws and a smile that wouldn't go away. He was with Hermione now, and there was no way that he was going to screw this up. And the best part of it all (or maybe just the most shocking) was that they had kissed.

More than twice!

Way more. This was fantastic. It was wicked. It was oh bloody hell, but in the best way possible. It was -- wait for it, wait for it -- better than chocolate frogs. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, he preferred this to chocolate frogs. The thought stunned him, but in a surprisingly bright manner.

Because now everything was perfect.

Ten minutes later, Ron was descending the staircase leading back into the common room when he passed Harry.

"Hey, Ron. You had been gone for so long, we thought you had died." Harry joked.

"I haven't been gone all that long," Ron replied, rolling his eyes. "I needed to take care of some things."

"Yeah, probably like do a victory dance on finally getting Hermione, and editing your shrine to her under your bed. But whatever, I'm turning in. Losing a bet sure does make you want to go to bed more quickly. See you in the morning," Harry told him as he departed up the stairs.

Ron continued down the stairs and made his way over to Hermione. Ginny was having a conversation with her at the time, but when Ron came back she quietly excused herself, saying she needed her rest. Once she had gone to bed as well, Ron sat down next to Hermione.

"Took you quite some time; did you get lost?" Hermione asked mildly.

"Yeah, I knew I should have left a trail of bread crumbs," Ron replied, grinning.

A short silence elapsed, in which Ron gazed intently at Hermione. Her face was tilted downward, a hint of a grin displayed on her lips. Hermione sensed that she was being watched after a moment, and raised her head. When she saw Ron looking fixedly at her, she gave a small, somewhat nervous laugh.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," Ron said and continued to stare.

"Then why are you looking at me?" Hermione pressed him. It was rather odd; certainly she had noticed Ron looking at her a few times before, but now it was so obvious. She had looked at him the same way before tonight, but now it was somehow... different.

"Why are you so beautiful? You answer my question, and I'll be able to answer yours," he replied softly.

Hermione ducked her head, her cheeks a crimson glow. After a few moments, she stared him in the eye once more.

"I like this," Ron declared giddily.

Hermione gave a short laugh before Ron interrupted again with an explanation.

"No, really, Hermione! This is... wicked, it truly is. Because before today, I could like you, but that was all. I hd to steal glances at you here and there as opposed to looking at you like I am now. I... I can hold you, I can... like, kiss you... and stuff."

"Kiss me, eh?" Hermione grinned.

"Yeah, and stuff," Ron ended.

Hermione laughed for the umpteenth time that evening (great, she finally gets her guy and she has to be so bloody giddy); his reply triggered her memory... what was it? Oh, yes, September 1st, at King's Cross Station. The memory was so much fonder, now that the initial embarrassment of the situation had passed. It also helped that she had now snogged Ron.

Much more than twice.

"I can kiss you, right?" Ron asked, confused by Hermione's chuckle.

"You are so cute," Hermione told him, before she kissed him several times in quick succession in confirmation.

Soon after, Ron and Hermione parted to go to their respective dormitories, although Ron hardly believed he would be getting any sleep. He thought of the fantastic day that he had just experienced, and marveled in the fact that Hermione could actually like him. Sure, she had only told him she liked him, nothing more, whereas Ron was hopelessly, head over heels, can't-live-without-you in love with Hermione. But is this the point? No, not really no. Ron lay awake until two in the morning contemplating his good luck, when sleep finally caught him, and he drifted off into more dreams...

In the blink of an eye, night had stolen away, and Ron lifted very groggy and reluctant eyelids to find sunshine streaming through the windows of his dormitory. He also found his pillow in his arms.

"Fan. Bloody. Tastic," Ron muttered to himself.

He staggered downstairs after dressing quickly, in the worst mood he had been in for ages. How could he have dreamed that? It wasn't like most dreams. It wasn't as spectacular in show, but it was so much better in... feeling. He couldn't lose that now; it just wasn't fair!

As he stepped into the common room, Hermione came up to him, greeting him with a warm, bubbly smile. God did he ever love that smile.

"Hey," Hermione said.

"Good morning," Ron replied, feeling uneasy; he wasn't sure if whether to believe that he had dreamed last night up or not.

"What, no kiss?" Hermione said, pretending to pout, "Don't I feel special."

Ron exhaled deeply, relief spreading through his veins. It wasn't a dream! He felt like shouting, he felt so good, but he settled on wrapping his right arm around Hermione's waist and pulling her up close to him. Still holding her near, he gently touched her face with two fingers of his left hand, starting high up on her cheekbone and ending at her chin, where he held her face positioned there as he kissed her for several long moments.

Or several long minutes. You know, whatever.

When they finally broke apart (there were some slight lack of oxygen issues to be dealt with), Ron couldn't help but think that he was really starting to get the hang of this.

Hermione seemed to be thinking along the same lines. All of her perfect teeth were showing now; she could not contain her happiness. Hermione thought that she could definitely get used to this sort of treatment from Ron. In fact, she thought to herself, she already was.

Harry came into the room shortly thereafter and they left for breakfast. Hermione and Ron ate together, holding hands, which proved to be difficult as Hermione read during the meal and Ron's usual vigor came back for this meal, but they were both happy to sacrifice one of their hands.

Lessons were not quite as fun. Much to Ron's dismay, Hermione still insisted on paying acute attention in class. As much as Ron would pout, Hermione would stiffen her resolve (he was still working on the perfect 'pity me' face, and therefore wasn't having much luck in affecting most of her decisions).

During the morning break, Ron was quite keen to continue with a snogging session. Hermione obliged, but she seemed somewhat distant. When Ron questioned her, she declined his offer to talk things through. She said she merely had some things she needed to contemplate on her own. This only made Ron more uneasy; as the day wore on, she became more distant, and eventually her eyes became slightly glossy as she apparently came to a solution to whatever was bothering her (Ron has questioned her throughout to day but still had not recieved any clues as to her troubles).

Later on, Ron would wonder why he didn't just let her get on with it and over it by herself. He wondered if he contributed to her answer, or if she was unhappy from the start. Whatever the reason, Ron couldn't stand it anymore when he saw very distinct tears in Hermione's eyes at dinner that night. He requested once more to speak to her about the matter, and this time she consented.

"Can I please speak to you outside?" she asked.

Ron nodded; together they stood up from the Gryffindor table and exited the large dining hall. Hermione led Ron over by classroom eleven, which was on the ground floor and had been used for a portion of the previous year for a Divination classroom.

"What's the matter?" Ron prodded the moment Hermione stopped walking. His heart was breaking in two; several tears made their way down her face and her lip trembled violently.

"Oh, Ron... I'm so sorry," Hermione was barely audible. "I... I have to break up with you."

((A/N: DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN! Bwahaha, my first time writing a cliffie! What do yall think of my attempt? Tell me what you thought when you review this chapter please!

I'd like to take this time to thank you for reading my fan fic thus far. Really, it has meant the world to me. I know that I was late on getting this chapter up, but I hope it was worth the wait. Because they kissed!

MORE THAN TWICE!

Tee hee, I donno why I made a big deal out of that, but I liked it. But my opinion doesn't matter nearly as much as yours. Tell me what you think!

Also, I need everyone to tell me something. How far should I take this? I actually could have ended this entire fic with them kissing in the Prefect's Lavatory, but I decided to keep going because I actually do have the next few chapters planned. What I'd like to know if how much you would like to read about this particular scenario. To be quite honest, there's a way I could write it past Hogwarts to include some wedding bells. In fact, I have that plot sort of forming already. But I'll only continue this story as long as my readers are interested.

Like I said, I've planned the next little bit, but if you want me to keep on writing, then I need more ideas! And also, something has really been bugging me.

Is there not enough Voldemort and such in this fic? See, I was so focused on getting Ron and Hermione to "The Moment You've All Been Waiting For" that I completely forgot about ol' Voldy, to be quite honest. Although I didn't forget about other characters; Harry and some other characters will have quite a part in about four chapters.

From now on, I am going to be updating hopefully weekly, and with each update I will recommend at least one fan fic.

This week, I am recommending Telling Ron and There For You by michelleywelley (which you all should have read by now anyhow P). Those fics are both on this site.

Since those two fics add up to fifty chapters of reading, I'll be recommending a short fic (for those of you who have already read michelleywelley's writing). it is called Discoveries and is by steviep. This story can be located on -- there are only four chapters, but they are quite lengthy, and the vocabulary usage is superb and there are absolutely no grammar mistakes, which I loved (heh, I KNOW I make loads of mistakes; I'm so sorry! But I can't really have my chapters beta'd because I'm always writing these last minute. If there's someone who's really up to some hard beta work, then message me on AIM at Purebloodangelz or at my e-mail address, 

I'm going to reply to all reviewers from last and this chapter in my next chapter, because I've already delayed this too long. I know that I should have worked harder to get it up, and for that I'm really sorry, but I had a lot of school work to do, and I was in surgery this last week as well. I hope yall will continue to read and review despite my screw up. Thanks!

Toodles!))


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